The Asian Development Bank is undertaking “a range of bold reforms” to address the new development challenges like climate change and modernisation of the ways of working, its president Masatsugu Asakawa told FE in an interview, ahead of the Delhi Summit of G20 Leaders.
The Manila-based multilateral development bank (MDB) is currently conducting “a major review of its Strategy 2030” to ensure that the new priorities “are adequately reflected in our corporate priorities.”
The statement assumes significance given that India’s G20 presidency has accorded high priority to the plan to bolster capital base and lending capacity of MDBs and expect a significant positive outcome on this from the the Delhi summit. In a recent article, Prime minister Narendra Modi has stressed the need to shift from the GDP-centric worldview to a human-centric one, even as he expressed concerns over the lag in meeting the sustainable development goals.
When asked how did he view the MDB reform agenda at G20 and how ready was the bank for implementing the plan, Asakawa said: “Our New Operating Model, introduced this year, is a major reorganisation which will accelerate four critical shifts for ADB: climate change, private sector, solutions-orientation, and a modernisation of ways of working.”
Stating that financial innovation will also be critical, he said digital technology for development is another area with “transformative potential.”
Pointing out that India is the largest country for ADB’s private sector operations, Asakawa said, at the end of 2022, ADB’s private-sector exposure in the country was $2.84 billion or 22.2% of the bank’s total private-sector portfolio.