Asian Development Bank: Banking Awareness Notes
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
The Asian Development
Bank was conceived in the early 1960s as
a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation
in one of the poorest regions in the world.
A resolution passed at
the first Ministerial Conference on Asian
Economic Cooperation held by the United Nations Economic Commission for
Asia and the Far East in 1963 set that vision on the way to becoming reality.
Headquarters
The Philippines capital
of Manila was chosen to host the new
institution, which opened on 19 December
1966, with 31 members that came together to serve a predominantly
agricultural region. Takeshi Watanabe
was ADB's first President.
From 31 members at its
establishment in 1966, ADB has grown to encompass 67 members - of which 48 are
from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.
Georgia is the last member to join the ADB group in 2007.
During the 1960s, ADB
focused much of its assistance on food production and rural development.
At the end of 2014, Japan holds the largest proportion of
shares at 15.7%. The United States holds 15.6%, China holds 6.5%, India
holds 6.4%, and Australia holds 5.8%
President and Main organ
The highest policy-making
body of the bank is the Board of
Governors, composed of one representative from each member state. The Board of Governors, in turn, elect among
themselves the twelve members of the Board of Directors and their deputies.
Eight of the twelve members come from regional (Asia-Pacific) members while the
others come from non-regional members.
The Board of Governors
also elect the bank's president, who is the chairperson of the Board of
Directors and manages ADB. The president has a term of office lasting five
years, and may be reelected. Traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has
always been Japanese.
The current president was
Takehiko Nakao, who succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda in 2013.
Areas of Focus and Results
ADB operations are
designed to support the three complementary agendas of inclusive economic
growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. ADB
employs its limited resources in its areas of comparative strength—the core
areas of:
A) Infrastructure (water, energy,
transport, urban development, information and communications technology)
B) Environment
C) Regional cooperation and
integration
D) Finance sector development
E) Education
F) ADB also operates on a limited
scale in other areas, including
G) Health
H) Agriculture and natural resources
I) Public sector management
J) As a multilateral development
finance institution, ADB provides:
K) Loans
L) Technical assistance
M) Grants
Current news about ADB
1. Asian Development
Bank(ADB) retained India’s GDP growth forecast at 7.4% for the current fiscal
and forecast the economy would grow at 7.8% in 2017-18.
2. The Asian Development
Bank (ADB) has approved a project loan of $300 million to upgrade over 400
kilometers (km) of major district roads in Uttar Pradesh
3. The Asian Development
Bank (ADB) approved a $500 million loan to build a bridge across India’s Ganges
River. The 9.8 kilometer (km) road bridge in the northeastern state of Bihar
will be India’s longest river bridge and will provide vital transport links
between the northern and southern parts of the state and with neighboring
Nepal.
ADB's 50th Annual Meeting:
Fumiko Hayashi, Mayor of
Yokohama, extends a warm welcome to delegates attending the 50th Annual Meeting
of the ADB Board of Governors, to be held in the Japanese city from 4 to 7 May
2017.
