The Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) cut its forecast for India’s economic growth in 2022-23 to 7%, from 7.5% estimated in April, terming it a “modest downward revision” driven by higher-than-anticipated inflation and monetary tightening.

Asian Development Bank(ADB):

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966.
• ADB is headquartered in Manila, Philippines.It aims to promote social and economic development in Asia.
• It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
• ADB has 68 members, of which 48 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside. 
• Japan and US holds the largest proportion of shares in ADB followed by China, India and Australia. ADB is also an official United Nations Observer.

India and ADB:

• India was a founding member of ADB in 1966 and is now the bank’s fourth-largest shareholder and top borrower. 
• ADB commenced operations in India in 1986 and has since committed 229 sovereign loans totaling $38.9 billion.
• In 2018, ADB committed a record $3.03 billion for 19 sovereign projects to help India develop infrastructure and services in transport, energy among others.

ADB Green and Blue Bonds:

• The Green Bond program enables ADB to support its developing member countries seeking to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to the consequences of climate change, whilst delivering environmentally sustainable growth to help reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people.
• The Green Bond portfolio specifically targets projects that promote the transition to low carbon and climate resilient growth as set out in the ADB Green Bond Framework.
• In order to address the growing funding gap required to protect and restore ocean health, global markets need to systematically change. ADB’s Blue bonds encourage that shift by increasing the amount of capital that can be invested in oceans to finance solutions at scale.