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What is the full form of ADB

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ADB: Asian Development Bank

ADB stands for Asian Development Bank. It is a regional development bank that is Asian in character. It was established to reduce poverty and foster economic growth and cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. It assists in the socio-economic development in member countries by providing loans, grants and technical assistance. It has 67 members, 48 of which are from Asia and Pacific region. It is headquartered at Mandaluyong, Philippines and as of July 2017, Takehiko Nakao is the president of ADB.

Areas of Focus

ADB operations give emphasis on the following areas:

• Infrastructure
• Environment
• Education
• Regional integration
• Finance Sector development

Brief History

• The idea of Asian Development Bank conceived in the early 1960s. Later, a resolution was passed at the first Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation in 1963 to establish the ADB.
• On 19 December 1966, ADB was established with 31 members and Takeshi Watanabe as its first President. In the beginning, ADB was focused on food production and rural development.
• In 1970, ADB’s first bond issue worth $16.7 million issued in Japan.
• In 1974, Asian Development Fund was established to provide low-interest loans to the poorest member countries.
• In 1982, it opened its first field office in Bangladesh to come closer to the people in need.
• In mid-1997, during severe financial crisis in the region, it started projects to strengthen the financial sector, i.e. it approved its largest single loan worth $ 4 billion to the Republic of Korea.
• In 2004, it spent more than $800 million for the recovery of areas hit by Tsunami in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Maldives.
• In 2008, it launched a new long-term strategy framework ‘Strategy 2020’ to respond to the changing needs of the region.
• In 2014, a midterm review of the ?Strategy 2020? was released and various organizational changes were introduced to improve the business processes and to become stronger and better.