Project/Program and Technical Assistance Performance Evaluations

This project performance evaluation report assesses the Second Small and Microfinance Development Project in Uzbekistan that provided intermediary loans of 50ドル million to three commercial banks (Hamkorbank, Ipak Yuli Bank, and Agrobank) for onlending to micro and small enterprises (MSE) in Uzbekistan. The project was approved in April 2010 and completed in December 2013.

In the aftermath of the 1997–1998 Asian financial crisis, Indonesia undertook reforms including strengthening the banking sector. However, to return economic growth to pre-crisis levels, higher levels of investment were needed, particularly in infrastructure. Developing capital markets offered an opportunity to reinvigorate growth through more efficient financial intermediation. In addition, one of the lessons from the Asian financial crisis was the lessening of dependence on the banking system by encouraging the development of capital markets, in general, and corporate bond markets, in particular. In this context, the Government of Indonesia adopted a Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) 2005–2009 and sought Asian Development Bank support to develop the country’s capital markets.

Georgia became a member of ADB in 2007. The Municipal Services Development Project, approved in September 2008, was the first Asian Development Bank operation in the country. A year after project approval, at the government’s request, ADB approved the Phase 2 in 2009, to provide additional financing to rehabilitate poorly maintained infrastructure due to lack of investment and maintenance post-independence from the Soviet Union. Both projects rehabilitated many small-scale infrastructure projects across Georgia.

This report assesses the performance and highlight lessons learned from the Strengthening Public Financial Management Program in Tonga. The evaluation will support the ongoing corporate evaluation of the policy-based lending of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

This report presents the findings from the evaluation of the Economic Support Program in Tonga to assess its performance and highlight lessons. It provides input to the ongoing corporate evaluation on policy-based lending of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and future ADB operations in the country.

This evaluation of four technical assistance (TA) projects with social protection elements assessed the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of their social protection support. The four TA projects were: (i) Social Protection of Poor Female Workers in the Garment Sector in the Context of Changing Trade Environments in Bangladesh, (ii) Strengthening the Government's Institutional Capacity for Improving Food Security in Bangladesh, (iii) Strategic Capacity Development for Social Sectors in Mongolia, and (iv) Supporting the Development of a Social Protection Framework for Nepal.

This project performance evaluation report assessed the performance of the project and identified lessons for future projects. The project was evaluated more than 4 years after project completion as this time frame provides adequate time to assess progress in achieving effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and the impact of the project.

The project was to finance sections of the east–west corridor under the sector loan modality. Of these sections, 662 kilometers (km) are priority highways in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Priority highways are divided into five sections, and the section between the Rajasthan–Madhya Pradesh border and Jhansi (excluding the Jhansi Bypass) was selected as the core subproject.

The east–west highway corridor forms part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) corridor. However, owing to lack of resources for maintenance and overloading of trucks, the east–west highway, which had been developed primarily under the former Soviet Union, was in poor condition at appraisal. The poor condition of the road network was a major impediment to economic development in the six regions of west Azerbaijan (Agstafa, Ganja, Goranboy, Gazakh, Goygol, and Yevlakh). In addition, improvement of the east–west highway corridor was expected to improve international cargo transport. The East–West Highway Improvement Project was approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in December 2005.

The Economic Reform Support Program was supported by two single-tranche policy-based loans (or subprograms) amounting to 16ドル million: 10ドル million for Subprogram 1 and 6ドル million for Subprogram 2. The program aimed to provide short-term fiscal stimulus and support the government’s long-term reform agenda for achieving higher economic growth and greater inclusion. The program was prepared at a time when the Cook Islands was experiencing adverse effects of the global financial crisis—the economy contracted in 2008 and 2009, and tax revenue as percent of GDP declined from 23.4% in FY2006 to 22.9%in FY2009. The program would support government efforts to counter the economic slowdown with a stimulus package consisting mainly of a large capital expenditure increase.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has designated agriculture and forestry a key sector since 1988, and made significant investments in order to shift from a subsistence economy to a market-oriented economy. Food security has been a priority and the lack of community-based irrigation facilities was seen as a major constraint on agricultural development. The government has pursued the intensification and expansion of community-managed irrigation systems and dry season irrigation as a means of boosting agricultural productivity.