Asian regional agency mirror of World Bank
Advertiser Staff
The $45 billion Asian Development Bank is holding its annual meeting in Honolulu starting today. More than 3,000 participants are scheduled to attend, including bank delegates, finance ministers and senior treasury officials from the bank's 59 member countries.
Every year, the bank's board of governors meets in one of the bank's member countries to discuss progress on work and a range of issues related to poverty reduction, international economic and social development and development finance.
Some frequently asked questions:
Why was it created?
The bank was created to mirror the work of the World Bank, which was started in 1944 to finance loans intended to rebuild war-devastated Europe. The Asian Development Bank came into being in 1966 as wealthier Western democracies sought to offer support to Asian countries. Similar development banks serve Latin America and Africa.
What does it do?
The bank has the charge to work in a part of the world with the majority of the world's poor, many in three of the four most populous countries: China, India and Indonesia. It makes money available through loans for long-term projects and programs; technical assistance grants; and investments.
How much money does it lend?
Last year, the bank's financial activities totaled $6.1 billion. It issued $5.85 billion in loans, $172 million in technical assistance grants and $78.2 million in equity investments. The $6.1 billion represented an 18 percent rise over the bank's $5.2 billion disbursed in 1999.
Where does ADB get its money?
ADB raises money through bond issues on the world's capital markets and relies on its members' contributions.
Whom does it lend to?
India, the Philippines, China and Indonesia were the largest borrowers last year. Top grant recipients were Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, India, Pakistan and Laos.
The most common type of loans lately have gone toward what the bank calls "social infrastructure," a category that includes projects to improve water supplies and sanitation. Last year, about 44 percent of the lending went into such projects, which included wastewater treatment in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a family health and nutrition program in Indonesia and a vocational education program for the Marshall Islands.
Who makes up the bank?
The membership is made up of 31 countries in Asia, 12 Pacific Island nations, Australia, New Zealand and 16 other nonregional donor countries such as the United States, Canada, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Portugal has been approved as the 60th member but has not completed the process.
The United States and Japan are the major shareholders, each having contributed 16 percent of bank assets. Several countries in Asia (China, India, Indonesia, South Korea) and elsewhere (Canada, Australia, Germany) hold 5 percent to 6 percent.
Why has the bank drawn controversy?
The challenge for the bank has been to select and manage development projects that meet the demands of its varied constituencies. Historically, the bank sought to fund some large projects, including dams and hydroelectric plants. But those huge public works projects often drew the ire of conservationists and cultural activists who argued that the related costs of social dislocation and environmental degradation were too great.
ADBwatch, an umbrella group for activists opposed to the bank's practices, describes the bank as an unaccountable and undemocratic institution that further impoverishes Asia's poor through projects that primarily benefit donor governments and private contractors.
What is its focus these days?
Lately, the bank has begun to shift emphasis away from large and commercially viable projects to more long-term, social programs meant to improve conditions to allow for self-sustaining economic growth. In addressing poverty, for instance, the bank recently adopted these goals:
Reduce the incidence of extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015; achieve 100 percent primary school enrollment by 2015; eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005; reduce infant and child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015; reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-fourths between 1990 and 2015; expand access to reproductive health services to all women by 2015; implement national sustainable development strategies by 2005 to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.
