The Asia Development Bank (ADB, ʻ), established on December 24, 1966, is a development finance institution owned by 65 members—48 from the region and 17 outside. The ADB's objective is to help build the economic and social infrastructure of its developing member countries. The first president or executive director of the bank was an American citizen Max Press who resigned in 1972.
The successor to Mr. purses was Filipino citizen David Macapagal who served as President/executive director from 1 January 1973 until his resignation on 31 March 1975. Since it started operations in 1968, the ADB has focused on reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.
It emphasizes policy-based lending. The bank was modeled after the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its sister institution is the Asian Development Fund (ADF), which was designed as a funding source for poorer members of ADB to address poverty in Asia. As with most of the multilateral development banks, membership in ADB requires agreement on an equal vote among various countries.
The president of ADB is elected by member states, who also choose the chairman from among their number, who chairs meetings of the board of directors. From 31 December 2009, Japan holds the same amount of shares in votes in ADB as China holds, but it has less voting power because its share in total equity is about 30%.
This arrangement sparked criticism among other nations for Japan allegedly wielding its share in ADB to secure funding projects, mainly in co-operation with China. The bank has been criticized for financing large stalling projects.
The bank's president also serves as chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer (CEO). The president delegates some operations to the senior vice-president, while others report directly to the president, such as corporate planning and finance management.
The Regional Operations Division is responsible for identifying regional investment priorities on which to focus ADB assistance. It allocates loans within these areas according to individual countries' needs and capacities, under the Country Operations Business Plan. The division provides analytical research support throughout all stages of project development including feasibility and technical studies, impact assessment, and review of project preparation and design. It also manages donor cooperation activities.
The Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Division (KMSDD) is tasked with acting as a trusted partner to the development community by facilitating knowledge generation, sharing, and application. The division provides expert advice in mainstreaming sustainable development into ADB's strategies, policies, programs, projects, and operations through its core functions: policy support; knowledge management/knowledge sharing; institutional support to country offices.
In addition to these functions, the division also conducts outreach work with other divisions within the bank to help formulate lending instruments that can be employed in sectors where critical environmental issues need to be addressed. The private sector department helps member countries to improve the enabling environment for private sector development, in addition to helping attract foreign direct investment.
The department conducts research on regional trade and finance issues under the South Regional Studies Programmed it manages. The Infrastructure Department provides financing, policy advice, technical assistance, and other services to borrowers involved in the planning, design, construction, improvement, and maintenance of infrastructure facilities.
This can include irrigation systems; power grids; roads; seaports and airports; urban transport systems such as railways, mass rapid transit systems (MRT), monorails and busways/BRT; water supply projects including dams, etc.; gas distribution networks including liquefied natural gas LNG); sewerage treatment plants, etc. In September 2012 ADB opened a new office in Kabul, Afghanistan to lead its development program there. In 2013, ADB provides $500 million to help the country rebuild its infrastructure and increase power production. In addition to lending, ADB also assists with knowledge transfer so that best practices are shared across nations.
The Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Division is a key part of this process. ADB contributes financially and technically to projects depending on each member country's request for assistance under four major programmer – Policy loans, Technical Assistance loans, Investment loans, and Guarantees – which have been periodically reviewed by the Board of Directors. Since its inception, ADB has supported 272 projects in 28 South Asian countries covering many sectors including transportation; water supply & sanitation; rural roads; irrigation & flood control; electric power & energy; health, population & nutrition; education; economic management & public sector management.
The Asia Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 18 December 1966. It provides loans to developing member countries for a wide range of purposes, including infrastructure projects and programs that enhance living standards. Headquartered in Manila, it comprises 67 members from 45 countries in Asia and the Pacific.
Currently, ADB is trying to improve its system by establishing some new principles such as open and inclusive decision-making, high-quality project preparation and delivery, good governance and oversight systems, performance accountability, knowledge sharing and learning as well as increased involvement by civil society organizations. Combined with these principles we can conclude that Asia Development Bank is trying to become an inclusive and sustainable bank.
The Asian Development Bank was formally established in May 1966 with its headquarters on the Asian Institute of Technology campus near Bangkok. It opened for business in February 1967 with a subscribed capital of $1 billion, later increasing to $8 billion on 20 September 1972. The ADB was initially intended as a primary agency for coordination within the World Bank Group and between it and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, over time coordination between the three institutions weakened considerably and ADBs role became that of a central institution more like that of the World Bank. A review released at ADB's annual meeting beginning on 29 March 2007 stated: "As we celebrate 25 years of development partnership in Asia, we have come to recognize that we need a new vision for the ADB as a long-term partner with member countries in achieving their goals of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
A strong, effective regional development bank is one of our key instruments to support Asia's economic development". The current President of the Asian Development Bank is Haruhiko Kuroda (2007-present). Mr. Kuroda had been Japanese Minister of Finance until 2006 when he was appointed as President by Japan, the largest shareholder of the bank.
Asian Development Bank has an authorized capital of $132 billion and its headquarters are located in Manila, Philippines. As of 31 December 2011, it had 67 members – 48 from within Asia and 19 from outside: Australia; Bangladesh; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Canada; China, People's Republic of; India; Indonesia; Japan; Lao PDR; Malaysia. For example, according to the official website of ADB, it is stated that "ADB will provide immediate assistance for projects that are expected to have a critical regional or global impact and where other sources of financing do not exist" The main purpose of this bank is to help the poor countries of Asia to develop their economy.
As stated on the official website, "the Asian Development Bank's mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people". Furthermore, the bank states that it finances projects in education, telecommunications, energy development, transportation infrastructure development, water supply & sanitation development, etc. This institution has more than 6 decades of experience in supporting all sectors in Asia.
You must be logged in to post a comment.