ADB Full Form

What is the Full form of ADB?

The full form of ADB is the Asian Development Bank. ADB is a regional development bank, its goal is to achieve a stable, healthy, versatile and sustainable Asia and the Pacific while at the same time supporting and strengthening its efforts to reduce enormous poverty.

In Asia and the Pacific, ADB was founded to reduce poverty and foster economic growth, development and mutual support. It promotes social and economic growth and development in participating countries by providing loans, grants and technical support. It comprises 68 members, including 49 from the Asia-Pacific region.

A brief history of ADB

• In the early 1960s, the idea of the ADB was conceived. Subsequently, a decision to establish the ADB was agreed upon at the 1963 First Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation.
• On 19 December 1966, ADB was established with a 31-member committee, and Takeshi Watanabe became the very first president. ADB paid much attention to food processing and agricultural growth in the early stages.
• The Asian Development Fund was established in 1974 to lend money accessible to the poorest member nations at a low interest.
• The first field office was established in Bangaladesh in 1982 to get closer to the people who need it most.
• In mid-1997, during the region’s financial crisis, it started projects to enhance the banking industry, i.e. various projects to ensure social safety for the poor and strengthen financial sectors. This included approving the most significant loan worth $4 billion to the Republic of Korea.
• In 2004, it invested over $850 million in restoring Tsunami-hit areas in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia.
• In 2008, a new global policy structure ‘Strategy 2020’ was launched to respond to the region’s growing needs.
• A mid-term systematic review of  “Strategy 2020” was published in 2014. Several operational improvements were initiated to improve processes to increase efficiency, enhance internal capacity, and cater to the changing business scenario.

ADB Priority Areas

The fields to which ADB operations offer significance are as follows:

• Environment
• Regional integration
• Infrastructure
• Finance Sector development
• Education