Updated Mar 24, 2022

What does Asian Development Bank Do?

What does Asian Development Bank Do?

Introduction

The Asian Development Bank has its central mission to foster growth and cooperation in the nations of the Asian Pacific Region. The Asian Development Bank was founded in 1966, and it is based in Manila, Philippines. The Asian Development Bank assists partners and members through loans, grants, technical assistance and equity investments to support socio-economic development.

The Asian Development Bank's Vision

The Asian Development Bank has a vision specifically for the Asia-Pacific Region relating to its growing needs. It intends to address these needs to create a more inclusive, prosperous, sustainable and resilient region. It focuses on tackling social and gender inequalities, developing quality and sustainable infrastructure, adapting to climate change, enhancing governments' institutional capacity, and promoting regional integration. The Asian Development Bank's vision is to enhance and expand its present capacities. The Asian Development Bank is all in for revamping to ensure its relevance and rules.

The Asian Development Bank's Focus Areas

The Asian Development Bank concentrates on certain areas of development and advancement that go hand in hand with the World Bank's sustainable development goals. The specific areas of focus are:

• Health
• Education
• Energy
• Transport
• Climate change
• Finance sector

The Asian Development Bank focuses on inclusive and sustainable economic growth by providing funding for development projects in the fields such as education and health. The Asian Development Bank, at the same time, also intends to enhance the capital markets. Fields like Information Technology (IT), Public-Private Partnership (PPPs), Regional Cooperation and Integration and many others like these form the secondary capacity building programmes.

The Asian Development Bank's Working

As mentioned earlier, The Asian Development Bank helps the private sector and public-private investments and developing countries, which are its members through loans, grants, equity investments and technical help to encourage development and progress. The Asian Development Bank supplies advisory services and provides policy dialogues.

The Asian Development Bank also employs co-financing operations which help in tapping commercial, export and official credit sources with the provision of assistance at the same time. The Asian Development Bank membership is open for all the members and associate members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. Other United Nations members like the regional and non-regional developed countries can also become members of the Asian Development Bank.

The Asian Development Bank's Policies and Strategies

The Asian Development Bank's board of directors gave a green signal in 2008 to Strategy 2020, a long-term strategic framework of Asian Development Bank from 2008 to 2020. This framework is a dominant Asian Development Bank-wide strategic framework that offers guidance to all the operations in 2020.

Strategy 2020 confirms the Asian Development Bank's vision for a poverty-free Asia Pacific Region. It focuses on assisting the developing member countries in improving the quality of life and living conditions of the people in these countries.

Strategy 2020 recognises the change drivers and aims to stress these change drivers in all the operations to be followed. The operations include- developing the private sector, promoting good governance, backing gender equity, assisting developing nations to enhance knowledge and increasing partnerships with various development institutions, community-based organisations and finally, the private sector.

The Asian Development Bank's board of governors accepted the proposal in 2009 to triple the Asian Development Bank's capital base from 55 billion dollars to 165 billion dollars. This acceptance provides the much-required resources to the Asian Development Bank to react to the global economic crisis and the long-term development requirements of the Asia-Pacific Region.

Overall view indicates that the Asian Development Bank's areas identified as core strengths over the years are related to infrastructure inclusive of communications and transport, water supply and sanitation, energy and urban development, environment, finance sector development, education and regional cooperation and integration.

The Asian Development Bank continues and will continue to work in the direction relating to health, emergency assistance, agriculture and disaster. The Asian Development Bank Development Effectiveness Review monitors the implementation of policies annually.

Conclusion

The Asian Development Bank's main responsibility is the major projects in the Asia Pacific Region. It is raising capital regularly with the help of international bond markets. The Asian Development Bank depends on the members' contributions, the earnings it gets from lending and through the loans' repayment to provide for the funds for the organisation.