The Asian Development Bank committed US$679.8 million to its Pacific developing member countries in 2025, including US$214.4 million in concessional grants from the Asian Development Fund, the bank said in its 2025 annual report released last week. The funding package marks the bank’s largest annual mobilisation for the region since the start of its intensified Pacific engagement, with transport, water and urban infrastructure, finance, energy and public sector management the top five sectors receiving commitments.
“ADB’s engagement in the Pacific in 2025 prioritised ongoing economic sustainability while advancing structural reforms, managing climate‑related risks, and building an enabling environment to increase private sector activity,” Emma Veve, director general of ADB’s Pacific Department, said in the report. The bank said deepening resilience across the Pacific and reducing vulnerability to external shocks would remain central to its work going forward.
Newly highlighted by the report is the start of ADB’s Frontier program in the Pacific, which aims to help smaller enterprises access finance. With 2025 its first full year of operation in the region, Frontier signed five cost‑recoverable technical assistance agreements. Three of those agreements were with Fijian enterprises: a saltwater prawn producer intended to help commercialise the prawn industry and bolster food security, a renewable‑energy firm installing on‑ and off‑grid solutions, and a performance arts company focused on youth employment. The other agreements support a Samoa bakery and an aerial mapping company improving coastal data across the Pacific. The bank also launched a complementary Pacific Wayfinder initiative to support job creation and innovation through concessional finance and technical assistance.
Infrastructure investment remains a major focus. ADB committed an US$80 million ADF grant to construct a 720‑metre bridge across Tonga’s Fanga’uta Lagoon, and the project is expected to attract about US$40 million in World Bank co‑financing. ADB said the financing package will also fund approach roads and upgrades to local water supply and drainage, and that the bank is the project’s lead lender under the Full Mutual Reliance Framework with the World Bank.
The annual report also details emergency and recovery support provided after late‑2024 disasters. In response to a 7.3‑magnitude earthquake that struck Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, ADB disbursed US$5.5 million in emergency relief funding and committed a US$24.4 million ADF grant to rehabilitate a major road that serves as the main access to Port Vila’s wharves. These investments are aimed at restoring critical logistics and safeguarding livelihoods as communities rebuild.
ADB is also supporting regional connectivity and private sector modernisation. In Papua New Guinea, the bank is financing pre‑delivery payments for six Airbus A220‑100 aircraft to help modernise Air Niugini’s fleet, providing US$19 million through ordinary capital resources and US$16.9 million via the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund 2, totalling US$35.9 million in support.
The 2025 report frames these commitments as part of a broader strategy to marry infrastructure and emergency response with structural reforms and private sector development. ADB said it will continue to promote regional cooperation and country collaboration as core elements of its Pacific operations, prioritising resilience, climate risk management and measures to expand private investment across the region.