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Asian Development Bank 2030 Strategy

A gist of the blog:

Last week, I attended the 51st Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, the Philippines. ADB aims to help developing member economies to reduce poverty, promote economic growth and improve the quality of life of their people. The Asia and the Pacific was the fastest-growing region in the past decade. Population in extreme poverty (with daily income below USD$1.90) in Asia and the Pacific significantly declined from 53% in 1990 to about 9% of the total population of the region in 2013.

Nonetheless, based on ADB’s estimates, Asia and the Pacific will need to invest USD$1.7 trillion annually for infrastructure until 2030, in order to improve economy, eradicate poverty, and respond to climate change. Given the massive funding gap, it is critical to attract private capital as a source of financing for these infrastructure projects. As a leading international financial centre in Asia and the world’s largest offshore Renminbi business hub, Hong Kong is well equipped to contribute to the prosperous, inclusive and sustainable development of the region.

Bond issuance is a commonly used financial instrument for financing infrastructure projects. To enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong’s bond market, I have proposed a host of initiatives in the Budget, including the Pilot Bond Grant Scheme, tax concessions measures, as well as the Green Bond Grant Scheme.

On the other hand, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority established the Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office in mid-2016 to provide a platform for information exchange and experience sharing, and to help build the capacity and knowledge of various stakeholders and to facilitate collaboration in this area.

May 6, 2018