Nakao gets fresh 5-year term as ADB president

MANILA, Philippines - Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Takehiko Nakao will serve another five-year term beginning Nov. 24 this year, the Manila-based multilateral lending institution announced yesterday.

The bank’s board of governors unanimously reelected Nakao for a second term.

He was first elected president on April 28, 2013 to serve for three-and-a-half years the remaining term of his predecessor, Haruhiko Kuroda. He was the sole candidate put forward by ADB governors when they were invited to make nominations for the position.

 “It is a great honor to receive the mandate of ADB members to serve as president of the ADB for another five years,” said Nakao. “I will devote myself to continuing to lead ADB to an even more elevated standing as the primary development institution in the region that helps achieve inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.”

Nakao is the ninth president of ADB. During his first term, ADB aligned its strategic priorities and increased its lending capacity from $13 billion in 2014 to $20 billion by 2020.

Last year, ADB’s loan and grant approvals reached a record $16.3 billion, including private sector operations of $2.6 billion, also a record high.

ADB also implemented institutional reforms under Nakao’s term including the provision of greater authority to resident missions, streamlining procurement and other procedures, and establishing the Office of Public-Private Partnership.

Before joining ADB in 2013,  Nakao was a senior official in the Ministry of Finance in Japan, where he gained experience in international finance and development. He also taught international finance as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo in 2010 and 2011. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Tokyo and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

When he was seeking reelection, Nakao laid down a vision statement in which he expressed intention to accelerate the bank’s provision of financial assistance to its member-countries.

He also wants to “catalyze” more private resources and partner with other development institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment bank (AIIB) and the Green Climate Fund.