ADB Through the Decades: ADB’s Fourth Decade (1997–2006)

Abstract

The Asia and Pacific region continued to grow despite a difficult external global environment. The developing member countries demonstrated considerable resilience, following the second oil shock and the international debt crisis that followed. This volume shows how the Asian Development Bank (ADB) responded to the growing diversity among its developing member countries as both membership and operations widened during decade. Considerations about ADB’s priorities were ongoing and ranged across many topics. To support these discussions as well as to provide information for policy makers across the region, ADB sought to position itself as a “regional resource center” with a broader development role of providing not only financial assistance but becoming a center of new thinking on development issues in the region as well. ADB moved closer to the ground by opening its first Resident Office in Bangladesh in 1982. New products were introduced—program lending, sector lending, direct lending to private sector without government guarantees, and equity investment—to meet changing needs and expectations of countries. As the decade closed, two key historical landmarks occurred: ADB made its first loan to India, and the People’s Republic of China became a member after long and detailed negotiations.