Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance.It is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 66 members, 47 from the region and 19 from other parts of the globe. ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their citizens.The work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day. Despite many success stories, Asia and the Pacific remains home to two thirds of the world's poor.
The bank was founded as a regionally focused clone of the IBRD (World Bank), with the primary impetus coming from the US, Japan and Western European (especially Nordic and Germanic) governments. The bank has traditionally funded its lending activities by issuing supranational-rated bonds in the euromarkets. For many years the bank was the only Asia-ex Japan issuer of eurobonds. Although recent economic growth in many member countries have led to a change in emphasis to some degree, throughout most of its history the bank has operated on a project basis, specifically in the areas of infrastructure investment, agricultural development and loans to basic industries in member countries. Although by definition the bank is a lender to governments and government entities, it has also participated as a liquidity enhancer and best practice enabler in the private sectors of regional member countries. The primary human capital asset of the bank is its staff of professionals, encompassing academic and/or practical experts in the areas of agriculture, civil engineering, economics, public policy and finance. These professionals are drawn from all across the globe and given various incentives to relocate to Manila, including diplomatic status and tax-free incomes. It is conceivable that once all of Asia-Pacific reaches a certain level of living standard the bank will be wound down or reconfigured to operate as a commercial enterprise.
Organization
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 12 members of the Board of Directors and their deputy. Eight of the 12 members come from regional (Asia-Pacific) members while the rest 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 is Haruhiko Kuroda.
The headquarters of the bank is at 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines, and it has representative offices around the world. The bank employs approximately 2,400 people, coming from 53 of its 65 member countries, and with more than half of the staff being Filipino.
Since 2004 the Asian Development Bank has been under investigation for corruption by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, headed by Sentor Richard Lugar (R-IN).
ADB Lending
ADB's annual project lending amounts to about US$5 billion per year with lending per project being in the $100 million range.Notable ADB projects and Technical Assistance
- Afghan Diaspora Project
- Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project in Indonesia
- Greater Mekong Subregional Program[1]
- PRC Ping Hu Offshore Oil and Gas Development
- Strategic Private Sector Partnerships for Urban Poverty Reduction in the Philippines
- Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline Feasibility Assessment
Effectiveness
The ADB's Water for All program has been criticised by the non-government agency WaterAid for excluding the poorest communities.WaterAid Reviews ADB South Asia Projects - OneWorld.net; Water for All? A study on the effectiveness of Asian Development Bank funded water and sanitation projects in ensuring sustainable services for the poor - PDF document. ADB does have criteria regarding project objectives which are the basis for Board approval of projects. Project completion evaluations are always carried out after project completion. The evaluations include assessments of achieving objectives. Since these assessments are carried out by employees who have a personal interest in not hurting the ADB and their pay cheques, their is a tendency to not being critical of ADB and their colleagues. After projects have been functioning for a sufficiently long period of time to ascertain whether long term expectations are likely to be achieved, audits are carried out to re-evaluate the projects. The audit reports are normally available on ADB's web site.Members
Names are as recognized by ADB. The year after a member's name indicates the year of membership. The largest share holders of the ADB are Japan and USA, each holding 12.8% of the shares [2]. At the time a country ceases to be a member, the Bank shall arrange for the repurchase of such country's shares by the Bank as a part of the settlement of accounts with such country in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article. [3]
Notes
External links
- The ADB website: http://www.adb.org
- ADB Institute: http://www.adbi.org