General fund is the main source of funds for ADB's business activities, including equity, reserves, net income and loans from international capital markets.
When ADB was founded, its authorized share capital was USD 6,543.8 billion. Later, after repeated capital increase, by the end of 1996, the authorized share capital of ADB had increased to USD 5,065.438 billion, of which USD 49.368 billion had been subscribed by all members. 7.03% of the subscribed share capital is paid-in share capital and 92.97% is paid-in share capital. The paid-in share capital can be used for the allocation of ordinary capital loans, while the issued share capital is the backing for ADB to raise funds from the international capital market. Japan and the United States are the largest contributors to ADB, and their subscribed share capital is equal, accounting for 65,438+06.054% of the total shares of ADB. China subscribed for 6.628% of the total shares of ADB, ranking third. On May 23, 2000, ADB decided to set up the Japan Poverty Alleviation Fund to provide funds for ADB's poverty alleviation projects.
The fund was established at the proposal of Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at the 33rd annual meeting of ADB. Japan plans to donate10 billion yen to ADB for poverty alleviation projects and other social development projects of developing members of ADB.
The fund focuses on supporting projects that directly provide economic and social services to the poor, helping the poor to acquire the ability of self-development and making the poverty alleviation plans of poor ADB members sustainable. Loans issued by the Asian Development Bank are classified according to conditions, including hard loans, soft loans and grants. The loan interest rate of hard loans is floating interest rate, which is adjusted once every six months, and the loan term is 10-30 years (2-7 years grace period). Soft loans, that is, concessional loans, are only provided to member countries or regions whose per capita national income is less than 670 US dollars (1983 US dollars) and their repayment ability is limited. The loan term is 40 years (grace period 10 year), with no interest and only a handling fee of 1%. The grant is used for technical assistance, and the funds are provided by the special fund for technical assistance, and the amount of the grant is not limited.
Loans from the Asian Development Bank are divided into project loans, planned loans, departmental loans, loans from development financial institutions, special project implementation assistance loans and private sector loans. Technical assistance can be divided into project preparation technical assistance, project implementation technical assistance, consulting technical assistance and regional activities technical assistance. Technical assistance projects are approved by the board of directors of the Asian Development Bank. If the financial amount does not exceed $350,000, the president also has the right to approve, but he must inform the board of directors.
During the period of 1967- 1996, ADB approved 435 technical assistance projects with a total amount of129.37 million USD, benefiting 36 countries. ADB not only provides funds for the development of its developing members, but also attracts funds from multilateral, bilateral and commercial financial institutions to invest in similar projects. This is the catalytic role played by ADB. This practice is beneficial to all parties. For recipient countries, financing channels have increased. And the terms are more favorable than pure commercial loans. For ADB, it has overcome the difficulty of insufficient funds. For co-financiers, it can save the cost of loan review. From the start of 1967 joint financing business to the end of 1996, ADB * * * arranged joint financing for 435 projects with a total amount of 24,605,438 million US dollars.
China's Shanghai-nanpu bridge project is a joint financing project, with a loan of US$ 70 million from ADB and a joint financing of US$ 48 million from commercial channels. This is the first joint financing project of ADB in China. In addition, ADB also co-sponsored Laiwu Iron and Steel Plant in Shandong and Yangpu Bridge in Shanghai.
ADB also provides guarantee services for joint financing and loans provided by participating private institutions. Guarantee services can help developing members obtain preferential loans from private institutions. The first guarantee business done by ADB was in 1989. Asian banks charge a certain fee for the guarantee.