New Delhi: Multi-lateral funding agency ADB on Monday said that it committed USD 20.5 billion from its own resources in 2022 to help Asia and the Pacific as it continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic despite fresh economic headwinds and crises. The financial and operational results published in ADB's Annual Report 2022 pointed out how the bank combined finance and knowledge and leveraged partnerships to help the region cope with economic shocks exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a worsening food crisis, and extreme weather events.
"Our support in 2022 helped our developing member countries (DMCs) navigate the immediate impacts of these crises while bolstering their longer-term resilience in critical areas such as climate change and food security," said ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa. The USD 20.5 billion comprised loans and guarantees, grants, equity investments, and technical assistance provided to governments and the private sector. ADB mobilised an additional USD 11.4 billion in co-financing, it said.
ADB committed USD 6.7 billion in financing for climate mitigation and adaptation in 2022, making progress toward its ambition of providing USD 100 billion in cumulative climate financing from 2019 to 2030. To address the region's worsening food crisis, it said, ADB provided USD 3.7 billion under its USD 14 billion food security programme, delivering essential food relief for people most in need and strengthening food production systems.
To support economic recovery, it said, ADB financed institutional reforms, strengthened public service delivery, and growth in key economic sectors. ADB's USD 3.9 billion in commitments to the private sector included vital liquidity support to enterprises facing a difficult business environment.
Meanwhile, it said, the bank made wide-ranging investments in quality infrastructure as well as in education, health, and other social sectors that contributed to building economy-wide resilience.
Promoting gender equality remained at the forefront of ADB's work, with 97 percent of the bank's operations in 2022 contributing to this agenda, it said, adding, these operations included initiatives to improve women's access to quality jobs, foster women's entrepreneurship, and build women's resilience to climate change.
Annual Report 2022 provides details on how ADB is evolving to better meet the changing and complex needs of its DMCs. These include measures to unlock greater resources to support the region's development through an ongoing review of the bank's capital adequacy framework, as well as structural and nonstructural organizational reforms guided by a new operating model.
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