Manila: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a commitment of $29.3 billion from its own resources for the year 2025, alongside advancing key institutional reforms aimed at assisting Asia and the Pacific in navigating changes and turning challenges into opportunities.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the ADB's Annual Report 2025, released today, highlights the bank's operational, institutional, and financial performance during a year characterized by complexity and uncertainty. "In 2025, ADB delivered unprecedented levels of support, with a 20 percent increase over 2024 and expected impacts of more than 3.3 million jobs and benefits to over 180 million people," stated ADB President Masato Kanda. He emphasized the bank's capability to meet the demands of Asia and the Pacific with substantial scale and speed.
The ADB's commitments, which include loans, grants, equity investments, guarantees, and technical assistance to governments and the private sector, saw a 20% year-on-year increase, reaching $29.3 billion. This figure was further augmented by an additional $14.7 billion from partners, as detailed in an ADB press release. Private sector development emerged as a significant focus for ADB in 2025, accounting for $5.5 billion of its commitments. Furthermore, half of the public sector commitments were directed towards infrastructure, reforms, and institutions aimed at unlocking private investments.
Regionally, ADB allocated $8.3 billion to Central West Asia, $1.4 billion to East Asia, $680 million to the Pacific, $9.7 billion to South Asia, and $9 billion to Southeast Asia, with an additional $302 million earmarked for regional projects. The sectors receiving the most funding were finance, transport, and public sector management.
In 2025, ADB also approved groundbreaking institutional reforms to provide high-quality and well-targeted support to its developing member countries. The reforms included an amendment to the ADB Charter, removing the bank's lending limitation and enabling a 50 percent increase in financing capacity without necessitating a general capital increase from shareholders.
As part of these reform measures, ADB's energy policy has been updated to enhance energy access and security in developing member countries. Additionally, procurement procedures have been streamlined to reinforce ADB's commitment to quality, sustainability, and value for money. A notable new approach has been adopted to support critical minerals-to-manufacturing value chains, aiming to responsibly and sustainably capitalize on the demand for materials essential for renewable energy and digital technologies.