ADB restores money flow for Marshall IslandsThe Asian Development Bank Asian Development Bank A financial_institution established in 1966 to reduce poverty in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank is headquartered in Manila, Philippines and consists of 61 member countries. (ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) A low-speed serial bus for connecting keyboards, mice and other input devices on Apple IIgs and Macintosh computers. Starting with the iMac in 1998, the ADB was superseded by USB. ) said Saturday it has opened the way to resume large-scale funding for the Marshall Islands Marshall Islands, officially Republic of the Marshall Islands, independent nation (2005 est. pop. 59,000), in the central Pacific. The Marshalls extend over a 700-mi (1,130-km) area and comprise two major groups: the Ratak Chain in the east, and the Ralik Chain in after a four-year hiatus as the tiny country cleared long overdue debt. ADB Marshall Islands desk officer Kyoshi Nakamitsu said the western Pacific atoll atoll: see coral reefs. atoll Coral reef enclosing a lagoon. Atolls consist of ribbons of reef that may not be circular but that are closed shapes, sometimes miles across, around a lagoon that may be 160 ft (50 m) deep or more. nation of about 55,000 people cleared overdue debts dating back to 2005 in March and had kept up to date with monthly repayments since then. "This has normalised normalised - normalisation relations between the Marshall Islands and ADB," Nakamitsu said The Marshall Islands owes more than 60 million dollars to the ADB for loans received in the 1990s and early 2000s, and is paying about four million dollars this year, more than 10 percent of the country's locally generated revenues. As a result of the government's action to keep current on loan payments, "ADB is considering mobilising a large chunk of funding for the Marshall Islands," Nakamitsu said. In recent years, the ADB has funded a few technical assistance programmes to the Marshall Islands but no loans or grants have been on the table. However, a three million dollar grant has now been approved in principle and is awaiting the final sign off by officials at the Manila-based bank, Nakamitsu said. 
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