AdB Steps Up Pacific Investment


New Country Offices in Kiribati, Tonga and Tuvalu

The Asian Development Bank has expanded its presence in Pacific island states, paving the way for new investment in project developement in the region.
 
The bank announced the launch of new Country Offices in the Republic of Kiribati in Micronesia, the Kingdom of Tonga in Polynesia, and the island nation of Tuvalu, also in Polynesia.

“Across the Pacific, ADB is significantly scaling up financing to help developing member countries achieve sustainable economic and social development, while enhancing climate and disaster resilience. The new country offices will allow ADB to have more regular contact and substantive communication with government and development partners,” said Carmela Locsin, director at AdB.


Investment Portfolio Doubles

The three new country offices are the first group of AdB field presences in Pacific developing member countries to be converted into country offices and will all serve as extensions of ADB’s Pacific Subregional Office in Fiji, providing oversight of opportunities for breakbulk growth.

“With growing commitments for new activities, ADB’s portfolio of active investments in the Pacific has doubled every 5 years since 2005, and now stands at $2.8 billion. ADB’s Pacific portfolio is expected to surpass $4 billion by 2020,” Locsin added.

Representatives from the AdB signed Host Country Agreements with government authorities to further expand the bank’s support in the Pacific.


OCR Upswing

Based in the Manila, Philippines, the ADB, provides finance for projects throughout Asia and the Pacific and is owned by 68 member organizations, with 49 of these from Asia. Established in 1966, it made commitments of new loans and grants amounting to $21.6 billion in 2018. 

The bank’s Board of Governors this month adopted a resolution to allocate $841.4 million in net allocable income from its 2018 Ordinary Capital Resources, marking an upswing in investment.


FSDPSF Support Grows

“ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty ...  operating income for OCR reached $889 million, an increase of $164 million from 2017,” a bank spokesperson said.

The AdB additionally announced funding of US$3million for its Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund (FSDPSF) which provides investment grant support focusing on finance sector development, inclusive finance, and infrastructure finance.
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