SINGAPORE, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Asian economic growth will remain strong this year and in 2008 despite higher energy costs and recent market turbulence, Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said Saturday.

He said there would be no change to the bank's latest regional growth forecast of 8.3 percent this year and 8.2 percent in 2008 -- and that developing Asia, excluding Japan, could even beat that forecast.

MANILA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Water pollution may have reached alarming levels in China, after three decades of industrialisation that lifted nearly half a billion people out of poverty, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.

The Philippines-based lender said it is giving Beijing a 500,000-dollar grant to help the Asian giant design a system to manage water pollution that the bank said 'may have already reached an alarming level across the country.'

MANILA, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank Thursday approved a 22 million dollar loan to Tajikistan to fight flooding in Khatlon province.

'Tajikistan is prone to frequent natural disasters because of its terrain and climate. Floods are particularly severe disaster risks because of the mountainous nature of the country,' said ADB specialist Tetsuro Miyazato.

The principal threat is the Pyanj River, which over the years has degraded flood protection facilities along the border with Afghanistan.

MANILA, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Asia is on track to halve extreme poverty by 2015, reflecting the impact of the region's dynamic economy on the lives of its nearly four billion people, according to a joint report released Monday.

The report by the Asian Development Bank and the UN Development Programme said Asia was also set to achieve goals in primary education coverage, gender parity and fighting the deadly AIDS virus.

The findings were set out in an update on the region's progress towards achieving the millennium development goals.

MANILA, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday it will lend Afghanistan 176 million dollars to complete a 'ring road' highway that will link the northern part of the country to the west.

The grant will be used in the construction of a 193-kilometre (120-mile) stretch of road between the western towns of Bala Murghab and Amalick, the ADB said in a statement from its Manila headquarters.

MANILA, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank has approved a 500 million dollar loan to Azerbaijan to help finance a major road programme, the Manila-based lender said in a statement Tuesday.

The money will help finance a comprehensive road network programme that will ensure 'sustainable economic expansion through increased trade flows and lower transport costs in the country,' the ADB said.

The nine-year project, which started last year, will cost 3.4 billion dollars.

MANILA, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Asia's economic growth prospects will get a strong boost from the US Federal Reserve's hefty cut in interest rates, Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said Wednesday.

'The latest decision by the US Federal Reserve would be welcomed by many in the region because that would first of all reduce the financial sector turmoil,' he told a news conference on the sidelines of an aid conference in Manila.

KABUL, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan's economy is expected to grow 13 percent this financial year, mainly because of the inflow of billions of donor dollars for reconstruction, the Asian Development Bank said Monday.

The growth, up from 7.5 percent the previous year, is mainly driven by construction, the service industry and agriculture, the ADB's country director in Afghanistan Brian Fawcett told reporters.

HANOI, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank said Monday it was worried about rising inflation in Vietnam as it predicted strong growth of more than eight percent this year and next.

In a revised economic outlook, the ADB said inflation in 2007 was likely to reach 7.8 percent, markedly higher than its previous forecast earlier in the year of 6.8 percent.

It said the main causes were more readily available cash, strong domestic demand and problems surrounding food security -- bird flu and swine fever -- which had reduced meat supplies.

MANILA, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - China will come under increasing pressure to let the yuan rise further against the dollar to deflate the bubble formed by its massive current account surpluses, the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank said Monday.

The Philippines-based bank raised its 2007 forecast for Beijing's current account surplus to 10.9 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), from 8.8 percent of GDP.