Editing Asian Development Bank (section)

==Criticism==
Since the ADB's early days, critics have charged that the two major donors, Japan and the United States, have had extensive influence over lending, policy and staffing decisions.<ref name="Kilby">{{Cite journal |last=Kilby |first=Christopher |year=2002 |title=Donor Influence in MDBs: The Case of the Asian Development Bank |url=http://www.williams.edu/Economics/neudc/papers/ADB.3.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.williams.edu/Economics/neudc/papers/ADB.3.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=The Review of International Organizations |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=509–528 |access-date=2010-09-16}}</ref>

[[Oxfam]] Australia has criticized the Asian Development Bank for insensitivity to local communities. "Operating at a global and international level, these banks can undermine people's human rights through projects that have detrimental outcomes for poor and marginalized communities."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Asian Development Bank and Food Security |url=http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/adb/ |website=Oxfam Australia |date=13 June 2014 |access-date=23 February 2008 |archive-date=6 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106042019/http://www.oxfam.org.au./campaigns/adb/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The bank also received criticism from the [[United Nations Environmental Program]], stating in a report that "much of the growth has bypassed more than 70 percent of its rural population, many of whom are directly dependent on natural resources for livelihoods and incomes."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inter Press Service – News and Views from the Global South |url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38568 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212033539/http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38568 |archive-date=2007-12-12}}</ref>

There had been criticism that ADB's large scale projects cause social and environmental damage due to lack of oversight. One of the most controversial ADB-related projects is [[Thailand]]'s Mae Moh [[coal-fired power station]]. Environmental and human rights activists say ADB's environmental safeguards policy as well as policies for [[indigenous peoples]] and [[involuntary resettlement]], while usually up to international standards on paper, are often ignored in practice, are too vague or weak to be effective, or are simply not enforced by bank officials.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Large-scale ADB projects draw criticism |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070508a5.html |website=The Japan Times |access-date=28 May 2010 |archive-date=21 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721192048/search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070508a5.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=RFI – NGO criticises ADB and questions its ability to reduce poverty |url=http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/113/article_3679.asp |publisher=rfi.fr |access-date=28 May 2010 |archive-date=21 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121080757/http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/113/article_3679.asp |url-status=live }}</ref>

The bank has been criticized over its role and relevance in the [[food crisis]]. The ADB has been accused by civil society of ignoring warnings leading up the crisis and also contributing to it by pushing loan conditions that many say unfairly pressure governments to [[Deregulation|deregulate]] and [[privatize]] agriculture, leading to problems such as the rice supply shortage in Southeast Asia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3746.aspx|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717063923/http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3746.aspx|url-status=dead|title="ADB to meet amid food crisis, growing poverty"|archivedate=17 July 2011}}</ref>

Indeed, whereas the Private Sector Operations Department (PSOD) closed out that year with financings of $2.4&nbsp;billion, the ADB has significantly dropped below that level in the years since and is clearly not on the path to achieving its stated goal of 50% of financings to the private sector by 2020. Critics also point out that the PSOD is the only department that actually makes money for the ADB. Hence, with the vast majority of loans going to concessionary (sub-market) loans to the public sector, the ADB is facing considerable financial difficulty and continuous operating losses.