More than half a century ago, a Japanese finance official and a private-sector adviser, who had first helped run the Japanese war machine and then took lead roles in the U.S. occupation to transform Japan’s battered economy, drew up the blueprint of what was to become Asia’s premier development finance institution. After 50 years of development lending, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has much to celebrate. The $250 billion it has mobilized over those years to fund infrastructure, knowledge transfer, and technical assistance played an important role in making Asia the world’s fastest growing region.
