Voting by the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has reached the requirement for ratification of a landmark amendment to the bank’s founding charter that will remove the lending limitation set out in Article 12.1, ADB announced. This will allow a 50% increase in lending to more than $36 billion annually to support developing member countries’ efforts to address critical development priorities in the region. The voting threshold was reached on November 14 with support from 61 members.
“I am extremely grateful to all members of the Board of Governors that have voted in favor,” ADB President Masato Kanda said. “This is a historic decision and I appreciate the deep confidence in ADB and in the work we do every day across Asia and the Pacific. Removing this limitation means ADB can now move forward with an ambitious plan to increase our annual financing commitments without placing any burden on our shareholders for a general capital increase, something ADB has not requested since 2009.”
This is the first amendment to the ADB Charter since the institution was created in 1966 and will enter into force three months after ADB officially notifies its members that the amendment has been adopted. The ADB Charter may be amended only by a resolution of the Board of Governors approved by a vote of two-thirds of the total number of Governors, representing not less than three-fourths of the total voting power of the members. The voting period remains open until November 30 and additional votes may still be received.
“The removal of the lending limitation is not only about bigger numbers, but what those numbers make possible,” Kanda said. “It means helping families who are working hard to lift themselves out of poverty. It means expanding opportunities for young people to learn and earn. And it means supporting communities that are vulnerable to shocks so they can stand steadily on their own.” The amendment is part of ADB actions to optimize the use of scarce capital resources provided by shareholders to maximize its support for the poor and vulnerable across the region.
ADB’s Capital Utilization Plan outlines a pathway for increasing the bank’s annual financing commitments from $24 billion in 2024 to more than $36 billion by 2034. It builds on capital management reforms approved in 2023 that significantly increase ADB’s financing capacity and a series of exposure exchange agreements with other multilateral development banks to reduce portfolio concentration risk. These resources will be critical to ADB’s ability to meet its corporate targets for 2030, including its aim to increase private sector financing fourfold to $13 billion a year by 2030 and ensure that 40% of its sovereign operations directly support private-sector development.
