ADB and KfW bank expands partnership with additional $2B

To support economic growth in Asia and the Pacific region, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a Germany’s state-owned KfW bank on Friday expanded their existing co-financing partnership with an additional $2 billion over the next four years.

The additional co-financing from KfW will help ADB address the “vast” infrastructure needs in the region, which was estimated at $1.7 trillion annually until 2030, including climate adaptation and mitigation costs, the Manila-based ADB noted in a statement.

“With this agreement, [it] will be used to fund infrastructure in Asia to promote sustainable economic development, a cleaner environment, and renewable energy,” Executive Director for Germany at ADB Helmut Fischer said. 

The agreement signified the “correct and consistent continuation of successful partnerships” due to Asia’s enormous need for investments, Fischer noted.

“Germany is one of ADB’s original shareholders, and we have long had a very productive partnership with KfW, together financing more than $5 billion in energy, climate, and urban infrastructure projects over the last 5 years,” ADB Vice-President Ahmed Saeed said.

“Our new MOU builds on this good work and commits us to a deepening of our partnership in support of inclusive and sustainable development across Asia and the Pacific,” he added.

Saeed, KfW Management Committee for Europe and Asia member Stephan Opitz, and KfW Regional Manager for East and Southeast Asia Ulrike Lassmann signed the revised memorandum of understanding) at the ADB headquarters in Manila.

ADB and KfW’s partnership from 2014 to 2019 yielded 14 co-financed projects focused on education, energy, health, industry and trade, and public sector management.

“This new agreement reflects the successful cooperation that we were able to set up to the benefit of our Asian partners in recent years,” Opitz said.

“I would like to emphasize that the success of such a collaboration is not only the co-financing as such, but also the openness and trust to work together from all parties,” he added. —Joahna Lei Casilao/VDS, GMA News