August 7: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Governors has unanimously reelected Takehiko Nakao as President of ADB for a further 5 years. Nakao’s new tenure will start from November 24.

Nakao was first elected as President by the Board of Governors on 28 April 2013 to serve the 3 and a half years remaining of the term of his predecessor, Haruhiko Kuroda. Nakao is the ninth President of ADB. “He was the sole nominee after ADB’s Governors were invited from 31 May to 30 June 2016 to make nominations for the organization’s presidency,” said the bank in a press statment.

“It is a great honor to receive the mandate of ADB members to serve as President of the ADB for another 5 years,” said President Nakao. “I will devote myself to continuing to lead ADB to an even more elevated standing as the primary development institution in the region that helps achieve inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific,” he added.

According to the bank, during Nakao’s first term, ADB has realigned its strategic priorities through the Midterm Review of Strategy 2020. It has increased lending capacity from USD 13 billion in 2014 to USD 20 billion by 2020 through the merger of Asian Development Fund operations with the Ordinary Capital Resources balance sheet. The scaling up of its operations has already made good progress. “Last year, ADB’s loan and grant approvals reached a record USD 16.3 billion, including private sector operations of USD 2.6 billion, which is also a record high. ADB’s Board of Governors in May approved a replenishment of the Asian Development Fund of USD 3.8 billion,” reads the statement.