JUST outside the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters, a barefoot girl in a tattered yellow shirt stretches out her hand as a few of its employees walk past. One gives her change—not exactly a textbook approach to development lending but a natural-enough impulse. “It reminds you of what you’re doing every day,” he says as he reaches into his wallet.
It is also a small reminder of what sets the ADB apart from its China-led challenger, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Since its formal launch in 2015, the AIIB has garnered much more attention than the ADB. But the ADB is still much bigger, with a presence throughout Asia’s poorest areas and a focus on all aspects of development, from education to anti-corruption projects, not just infrastructure.
It also has an impressive track record. December 19th will mark the ADB’s 50th anniversary. It funds projects and provides policy advice from Georgia in the west to the Cook Islands in the east. It had a hand, albeit a small one, in the economic miracle Asia has witnessed in its lifetime. It has never suffered a default on the $250bn that it has doled out over the years...Continue reading
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