Asakawa retains ADB post

MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Development Bank (ADB), one of the country’s main sources of loans, has reelected Masatsugu Asakawa as president for the next five years.

In a statement yesterday, the Manila-based multilateral lender said Asakawa received unanimous votes from the board of governors for his second term.

His new term will begin on Nov. 24 and will last for five years.

Asakawa was elected as the 10th president of ADB in November 2019 and served the remaining term of his predecessor, Takehiko Nakao.

“My vision for the upcoming term is for ADB to serve as the premier development institution for Asia and the Pacific as it supports its developing member countries in recovering from the pandemic on a renewed path toward the prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future we envisioned in our Strategy 2030,” Asakawa said.

ADB remains one of the Philippines’ largest sources of official development assistance, with average annual lending of $1.9 billion over the last five years.

A record $4.2 billion was lent to the country last year, representing 13.2 percent of ADB’s total lending of $31.6 billion in the Asia Pacific region.

This makes the Philippines the second largest recipient of funding from ADB, next to India’s $4.4 billion.

As the pandemic hit last year, ADB contributed to the region’s COVID-19 response and recovery programs through its $20 billion comprehensive response package and $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, both of which benefited the Philippines.

ADB also concluded a replenishment of more than $4 billion for its Asian Development Fund and Technical Assistance Special Fund, which provide critical grant resources for vulnerable member countries.

Prior to his post in ADB, Asakawa was the special advisor to Japan’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and had nearly four decades of experience in international finance and development.

Asakawa led international taxation discussions including the Base Erosion Profit Shifting project as Chair for the Committee on Fiscal Affairs in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from 2011 to 2016.