Asian Development Bank
MULTILATERAL MEMBERS
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.
ADB assists its members, and partners, by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
The Asian Development Bank aims for an Asia and Pacific free from poverty. Its mission is to help developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region's many successes, it remains home to a large share of the world's poor: 330 million living on less than $1.90 a day and 1.2 billion on less than $3.10 a day.
ADB in partnership with member governments, independent specialists and other financial institutions is focused on delivering projects in developing member countries that create economic and development impact.
As a multilateral development finance institution, ADB provides:
- loans
- technical assistance
- grants
Our clients are our member governments, who are also our shareholders. In addition, we provide direct assistance to private enterprises of developing member countries through equity investments and loans.
ADB maximizes the development impact of its assistance by
- facilitating policy dialogues,
- providing advisory services, and
- mobilizing financial resources through cofinancing operations that tap official, commercial, and export credit sources
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:
- Infrastructure (energy, information and communications technology, transport, urban development, water)
- Environment
- Regional cooperation and integration
- Finance sector development
- Education
ADB also operates on a limited scale in other areas, including
See results of ADB-supported operations
Where does ADB get its funding?
ADB raises funds through bond issues on the world's capital markets. We also rely on our members' contributions, retained earnings from our lending operations, and the repayment of loans. We also provide loans and grants from a number of special funds.
How much assistance does ADB provide?
ADB’s total lending in 2016, including cofinancing, reached $31.70 billion — an 18% increase from 2015.
The total include $17.47 billion in approvals for loans and grants, $169 million for technical assistance, and $14.06 billion for cofinancing, which increased by a record 31% over 2015. Disbursements also reached a new high of $12.26 billion in 2016.
Private sector operations reached $2.5 billion. Apart from its own funds, ADB’s private sector operations also generated a record $5.84 billion in cofinancing — a $1.2 billion increase from 2015 — which included $238 million in official cofinancing to support nonsovereign operations.