The 57th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is scheduled to take place in Georgia from May 2-5, 2024. State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe will represent Sri Lanka at the event and is set to engage in bilateral discussions with counterparts from various countries, focusing on Sri Lanka’s ongoing efforts for economic recovery. As a founding member of ADB, Sri Lanka received $908 million in disbursements and secured $610 million in loans from the bank in 2023, with an additional $5.5 million in technical assistance commitments for the same period.
The meeting is anticipated to attract around 5,000 participants, including Finance Ministers, Central Bank governors, officials from international organizations, private sector representatives, civil society organizations, and media personnel. This gathering aims to bolster mutual understanding and economic cooperation between Georgia and economies across the Asia-Pacific region. ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa recently discussed the bank’s economic outlook for Asia and the Pacific, addressing challenges such as food security, climate change, and managing external shocks in an interview with Zeinab Badawi, an International Broadcaster, ahead of the Annual Meeting.
In a special episode titled ‘full ADB Insight,’ featuring ADB President Asakawa, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Odile Renaud-Basso, and Georgia Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili, insights were shared on building a sustainable and inclusive future. ADB’s latest economic forecast in the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) for April 2024 projects moderate growth for Sri Lanka’s economy, predicting a growth rate of 1.9% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025, following two consecutive years of contraction.