Asian Development Bank 2009
IFR Asia magazine issue 596 special report (April 25 2009)Asian Development Bank 2009
Another year, another long-term strategic blueprint-style plan for the Asian Development Bank. This year, however, the bank’s planning is underpinned by sizeable increase to its resources.
Financial crisis forces ADB refocus on trade finance
A particular theme seems to define the ADB agenda every year, depending on what economic/political/financial forces are engulfing the region. The past 12 months have all been about the credit crisis and the dwindling capital supply available to Asian SMEs. The ADB has tackled the problem at its most essential level: trade finance.
Crisis wipes out Asian wealth
About US$50trn of the word's wealth was destroyed in 2008 – or one year's worth of GDP, according to a report released in mid-March by the Asian Development Bank. Asia accounted for nearly US$9.62trn or 19.25% of those losses.
2020 vision
The role of organisations such as the Asian Development Bank has become critical in responding to the global financial crisis. Efforts are being made to boost trade that would revive the global economy. The ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda talks to Prakash Chakravarti about the bank’s efforts in that regard and shares his views on the potential for an alternative international currency as well as Asian monetary integration.
Growth with focus
Despite a 22-year stint with the ADB, Rajat Nag, managing director general, feels he has been with the bank for a very short time. The enthusiasm and excitement he had when he joined the bank still lives because of what Asia has gone through. He talks to Prakash Chakravarti about the ADB’s achievements and the way forward.
Rising Asian political risk
As the financial crisis blooms into a global economic recession, Asia’s fragile political arrangements and democracies are coming under stress. Asian politics can be tumultuous at the best of times – throw in two wars in the Middle East, increasing concerns about economic dislocation in China and ongoing power struggles in Thailand and Malaysia, and the region’s political risk problems start to mount.
Free the MDBs
Multilateral development banks are political beasts. In this article an ex-ADB staffer talks about the historic and organisational issues that complicate the aid logistics of development banks, and the urgent need for reform.
Moving beyond business as usual
The oil price spikes may be a year behind us, but they were a timely reminder of the necessity of addressing Asia’s long-term energy needs. The ADB is rolling out all manner of sensible, practical solutions to bring energy to the people, and in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The quiet crime-fighter
As part of its corruption fighting measures, the ADB independently investigates dozen of cases every year. It manages to process this volume of casework partly because it does not publish those names it deems guilty of corruption.
Tackling corruption
Corruption is a serious problem in the developing world and poses a significant hurdle to one of the ADB’s fundamental objectives of poverty reduction as the consequent economic hit is to the poor. Projects involving development finance institutions such as the ADB have become more vulnerable in the aftermath of the global financial turmoil.