COMBINATION OF OCR AND ADF RESOURCES
II. COMBINATION OF OCR AND ADF RESOURCES
Effective 1 January 2017, ADB transferred loans and other assets totaling $30,812 million from the Asian Development Fund (ADF), the concessional lending window of ADB, to OCR in accordance with the Board of Governors’ resolution authorizing the termination of the ADF’s lending operations and retaining the ADF as a grant-only operation. Concessional lending continues on the same terms and conditions previously provided to ADF countries through the OCR window, while the ADF continues to provide grant assistance. The initiative expanded ADB’s lending capacity—particularly to poor countries and the private sector, enhanced its risk-bearing capacity, and strengthened its readiness to respond to future economic crises and natural disasters.
The transfer of assets was treated as a contribution from the ADF which was recognized as a one-time income of $30,748 million in OCR and a return of the set-aside resources of $64 million
from the ADF to OCR. 3 On 15 March 2017, the Board of Governors approved the allocation of this one-time income to OCR Ordinary Reserve effective 1 January 2017.
The transferred ADF assets came from donor contributions, OCR net income transfers and set- aside resources. For further details on the composition of the sources, refer to the disclosure on Transfer of ADF Loans and Other Assets to OCR in OCR-9 and ADF-7 of the financial statements.
2 ADB. 1966. Agreement Establishing the Asian Development Bank. Manila. 3 The undisbursed ADF loan balance of SDR6,281 million ($8,444 million equivalent) was also assumed by OCR on
Funding for OCR operations comes from three distinct sources: borrowings from capital markets and private placements, paid-in capital provided by shareholders, and accumulated retained income (reserves), which provides a buffer for risk arising from its operations. The financial strength of ADB is based on the support it receives from its shareholders and on its financial policies and practices; shareholder support is reflected by capital subscriptions of members and the record of ADB borrowing members in meeting their debt service obligations.
Borrowed funds, together with equity, are used to fund OCR lending and investment activities and other general operations. ADB is rated triple-A by the major rating agencies and its bonds are viewed as high quality debt by investors. ADB’s funding strategy is aimed at ensuring availability of funds for its operations at the most stable and lowest possible cost. Such strategy has enabled ADB to achieve cost-efficient funding levels for its borrowing members.
Loans are generally provided to sovereign and nonsovereign borrowers in DMCs. Regular OCR loans, which are available to DMCs that have attained higher economic development, are priced on a cost pass-through basis, which means the cost of funding the loans plus a contractual spread is passed to the borrowers. Concessional OCR loans, which are available to DMCs with per capita gross national income below ADB operational cutoff and limited or low creditworthiness, are priced between 1% to 2%. ADB applies market-based pricing for nonsovereign loans. In addition to direct lending, ADB also provides guarantees to assist DMC governments and nonsovereign borrowers in securing commercial funds for ADB-assisted projects.