Asian Development Bank says president to depart in early 2025

The Asian Development Bank stated on Monday that its president, Masatsugu Asakawa, has introduced his intention to step down from his place, efficient Feb. 23, 2025.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported earlier on Monday that Japan is ready to again former high monetary diplomat Masato Kanda as a candidate for the subsequent president of the ADB.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stated in a press release that Japan hoped to promptly nominate somebody most applicable as a candidate.

The Finance Ministry declined to touch upon the reported nomination of Kanda.

A former high Japanese foreign money diplomat, Asakawa turned ADB president in January 2020 and oversaw the Manila-based lender’s launch of measures to assist the area’s economies cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The election of the ADB’s new president will comply with “an open, clear, and merit-based course of” in accordance with the lender’s constitution, the event lender stated in a press release.