SINGAPORE: The new office of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Singapore, which is expected to open in the second half of this year, will help support the expansion of its private sector operations.
An agreement establishing the new office was signed Friday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, by ADB president Takehiko Nakao and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat.
“ADB has estimated that developing Asia will need $1.7 trillion ($1 = RM4.13) per year in infrastructure investments until 2030 to maintain the region’s growth momentum. To meet this need, governments will need to work with multi-lateral development banks to make projects bankable and investible in order to draw in private capital,” said Heng in a statement issued from Osaka today.
“Singapore looks forward to deepening our relationship with the ADB to help countries in the region realise their sustainable development goals,” said the minister.
ADB’s Singapore office will be a lean and focused office with 12 staff members, including staff from its Private Sector Operations Department (PSOD) and Office of Public–Private Partnership.
Last year, ADB’s PSOD operations covered 32 transactions amounting to $3.1 billion out of $21.6 billion total commitments of loans and grants.
Meanwhile, Nakao said as one of the world’s leading financial and commercial hubs, Singapore is well suited to support the ongoing expansion of ADB’s private sector activities.
“Mobilising private sector money from markets such as Singapore helps us to bring the latest technologies and management skills to development projects across the region in the infrastructure and social sectors,” he said.
Under Strategy 2030, the number of private sector projects will increase to one-third of ADB’s operations (number of committed operations) by 2024, while $2.50 of long-term co-financing will be targeted for every $1 of financing by 2030.
Private sector operations will also strengthen support for frontier economies and expand operations in agriculture and social sectors such as health and education, in addition to renewable energy and other core infrastructure.
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance said ADB’s office in the island nation will help achieve this growth by making it easier to efficiently engage with project sponsors, contractors, advisors, financiers, other international financial institutions, and professional service providers.
This is part of a wider move by ADB to have private sector staff based closer to clients in the region, it said. – Bernama
