The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank located in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. It began operations on December 19, 1966. Additionally, the firm maintains 31 field offices globally to advance Asia's social and economic growth. It is a multilateral development bank with 68 members: 49 from Asia and 19 from elsewhere. The bank was proposed by the Japanese administration and economists on several occasions but it was shelved multiple times before finally being launched.
Its mission is to help people in Asia and the Pacific improve their lives, particularly the 1.9 billion people who live on less than $2 per day.
The Asian Development Bank envisions a poverty-free zone. Its mission is to assist developing member countries in reducing poverty and improving the lives of their populations.
ADB works in these six key areas:
Education
Environment, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management
Finance Sector Development
Infrastructure
Regional Cooperation and Integration
Private Sector Lending
The ADB's key instruments for assisting its developing member countries are as follows:
1. Policy discussion
2. Mortgages
3. Assistance with technological challenges
4. Endowment funds
5. Stock investments.
6. Guarantees
The ADB typically lends more than $6 billion per year, with technical support averaging roughly $180 million.
Administration of Asian Development Bank
The ADB is modelled after the World Bank and uses a weighted voting method in which votes are distributed based on capital contributions. The ADB publishes an annual report summarising its operations, budget, and other documents for public scrutiny.
The bank is led by a President, four Vice Presidents, department and office leaders, as well as a Board of Governors and a Board of Directors. Each member country elects one Governor and one Alternate Governor to represent it in the United Nations General Assembly.
All the presidents of the Asian development bank to date have been of Japanese origin.
The Board of Governors selects the 12 Directors (each with an alternate), with eight from Asia-Pacific and four from other regions.
The Board of Governors also elects the President for a five-year term with the option of reelection. The President chairs the Board of Directors and is responsible for carrying out ADB's directives.