The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has successfully organized its 57th Annual Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia from May 2 to 5 under the theme “Bridge to the Future”, which debated key development issues facing Asia and the Pacific including climate change, artificial intelligence, and green globalization. One of the main topics of discussions that were held in the meeting was private sector financing.
1.1 BILLION USD INVESTED ON FINANCING PRIVATE SECTOR
ADB recognizes the private sector’s important role in creating inclusive growth and reducing poverty across the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, it is designed to support businesses to unlock investments, thereby fostering innovation, generating jobs, and contributing to sustainable development.
To prove this commitment, ADB has helped 47.5 million micro and small sized enterprises across the region and financed 1.1 billion USD in total to the private sector with focus on climate financing, reports the bank’s Private Sector Operations in 2022 report. The bank’s private sector investment ranges from agribusiness to health and education to infrastructure.
With regards to its commitment, the bank has discussed private sector matters with international delegates. Sustainability in financing private sector as well as role of Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in capital markets was touched upon as the first of the series of discussions and main driving force behind the seminar was the keep supporting the rise of ESG themed capital markets which used as a key mechanism for directing climate finance to sustainable projects and member countries shared their own experiences.
Next on the line was a seminar focusing on private sector participation and financing climate finance projects, especially in developing member countries. Innovative financial instruments, such as credit enhancement products and blended finance, to harness the vast renewable energy and climate finance potential in the region, was explored among participants.
The annual meeting’s private sector participants also explored a role of technology in fostering inclusive and climate resilience finance. On top of discussing the evolving new impact of digitization, the discussion especially catered to promoting digital finance. The seminar also featured insights from the perspectives of market regulation, digital finance firms, platforms, and investors, with the aim of enhancing financial accessibility while ensuring long-term resilience.
As mentioned in the beginning, private sector discussions were not only the main theme of the 57th annual meeting of ADB in Tbilisi. The event exchanged great deals of opinions on issues around civil society organizations’ participation, AI, climate crisis survivors and finding ways to help one another. Accordingly, the bank and its donors have agreed to a replenishment of 5 billion USD for ADB’s Asian Development Fund and Technical Assistance Special Fund to support the most vulnerable groups of the region, especially climate change survivors. ADB’s annual meeting in Georgia’s capital city brought together finance ministers, central bank governors, senior government officials, and representatives from the private sector, academia, media, and civil society from ADB’s 68 members and from Mongolia, officials from Finance Ministry, Khan Bank delegation and The UB Post’s Editor participated in the meeting. Georgia’s hosting of ADB’s annual meeting coincided with the country’s month-long demonstrations against the government's "Foreign Agents" bill, which is considered by the demonstrators authoritarian and inspired by similar legislation in Russia that has been used to clamp down on dissent there. The peaceful, yet active demonstration throughout the country in the evening and ADB’s busy annual meeting encounters in the daytime was definitely something interesting for the meeting participants to see.
ADB HELPS MONGOLIA ENABLE CLIMATE-CONSCIOUS BUSINESS
In Mongolia, ADB has been present for more than the last 30 years and it aims to help support climate-conscious development, and improve infrastructure to help diversify the economy. The bank supports the country in every sector that needs perfection and the private sector has been the strong focus recently. Mongolia’s private sector generates nearly 80 percent of GDP, says the ADB’s 2017 Country Partnership Strategy. However, the sector is largely constituted by MSMEs who cannot take affordable credit. Removing obstacles to private sector development is obviously very central to the government’s drive to diversify the economy. The bank has been working closely with the government to achieve its aforementioned goal. Since it has started financing the private sector, ADB has committed 182.1 million USD in loans for seven significant projects.
These projects included commercial banks and allowing them to extend long-term finance to larger businesses, MSMEs with their desperately needed affordable finance, trade financing, food and agriculture, consumer goods and automotive sectors, cashmere and textile and renewable energy businesses.
ADB Mongolia
ADB’s assistance is targeted at underserved segments, with at least 30 percent earmarked for women-led businesses and 40 percent for businesses outside Ulaanbaatar. This assistance involves stronger pushback against COVID-19 pandemic disruption.
The companies that received support during and after the pandemic were Ulaanbaatar Flour Limited Liability Company, Mongolia’s leading wheat miller, Tavan Bogd Foods and Milko LLC and many more. The bank also has supported the cashmere industry with creation of the Mongolian Noble Fibre certification mark.
ADB loans to these companies ensure that they can maintain production and inventory, preserving thousands of jobs and supporting the country’s basic supplies and overall food security.
As a climate bank, it knows that the private sector is one of the main spheres to achieve a climate-conscious world and therefore, ADB has been paying strong attention to the private sector. You can read more about ADB-private sector cooperation from our upcoming interview with ADB Country Director for Mongolia Shannon Cowlin.
By I.Odonchimeg
