ADB triples capital base to $165 bn

MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) board has agreed to triple its capital base to $165 billion to cope with the financial crisis, the bank said on Thursday. This would ensure "much-needed resources to respond to the global economic crisis and to the longer-term development needs of the Asia and the Pacific region," the bank said in a statement.

An "overwhelming majority" of the ADB's 67 countries approved the multilateral institution's fifth general capital increase in its 42-year history on yesterday, the statement said.

"This substantial increase is a resounding vote of confidence from our shareholders for what we can achieve as a premier development partner in the region," ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda was quoted as saying.

The statement did not say where the increased capital would come from, but earlier Kuroda said the bulk of the capital injection would come from the ADB's shareholder nations.

Japan and the United States are the biggest contributors with shares of 15.6 per cent each in the bank.

The last capital increase, amounting to a 100 per cent hike, came in 1994, the ADB said in a statement from its headquarters in the Philippine capital.