Donors have agreed to replenish the Asian Development Bank’s Asian Development Fund (ADF) 13 and Technical Assistance Special Fund (TASF) 7 between 2021 and 2024 by a sum in excess of $4 billion in total.
A meeting was held in this regard on the eve of the second stage of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the ADB’s Board of Governors, held this year over two days in a virtual and abbreviated format due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The size of the replenishment represents a 7% increase in comparison to the previous replenishment, which covered the period between 2017 and 2020.
The total size of the replenishment represents a 7% increase in comparison to the previous replenishment, which covered the 2017–2020 periods.
Total resources which are allocated between ADF 13 and TASF 7 amount to about $3.5 billion and about $0.5 billion, respectively.
“We highly appreciate our donors’ support for ADF 13 and TASF 7, even as their own economies are under pressure from the heavy health and economic toll from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
“Our assistance will be critical in responding to the Covid-19 crisis and building an inclusive and sustainable recovery in the poorest and most vulnerable countries of the region.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a devastating toll in terms of human lives and health, jobs, growth and economic progress in Asia and the Pacific, said Asakawa.
Of the total replenishment size, more than $2.3 billion, or 58%, will be funded by contributions from 30 donors, including the 2 new donors Azerbaijan and the Philippines.
The remaining $1.7 billion, or 42%, will be funded by internal resources, including net income transfers from the ADB’s ordinary capital resources and income from ADF’s liquidity investment.
ADF is the largest special fund of the ADB and finances grant operations among its poorest and most vulnerable members. The fund is replenished every 4 years.
Gains in reducing poverty are threatened, inequalities will increase, and progress against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is likely to be set back, especially in low income countries which include fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCAS) and small island developing states (SIDS), said the ADB.
To help these countries cope with the crisis and ensure robust sustainable and inclusive recovery, ADF grants together with the ADB’s concessional loans will deliver more than $16 billion in assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable members in 2021–2024, it added.
ADF 13 will be the first ADF round to support implementation of the ADB’s corporate strategy—Strategy 2030—during its full cycle and will fund key agendas in eligible countries, which include a majority of FCAS, such as Afghanistan, and SIDS.
For the first time, ADF will include a thematic sub-window to incentivize governments to consider ambitious projects significantly supporting regional cooperation and integration; regional public goods such as regional health security, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation; and SDG 5’s transformative gender agenda.
Other priority areas targeted in ADF 13 include quality infrastructure in line with the G20’s principles, strong governance, development of private sector operations, and debt sustainability through implementation of the Sustainable Development Finance Policy.
