New Delhi, Nov. 22 -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has secured the required votes from its Board of Governors to ratify a major amendment to its founding charter, removing the lending limitation stipulated in Article 12.1.

The reform will enable the Bank to increase annual lending by 50 percent to more than USD 36 billion, significantly expanding support for developing member countries across Asia and the Pacific.

"Removing this limitation means ADB can now move forward with an ambitious plan to increase our annual financing commitments without placing any burden on our shareholders for a general capital increase, something ADB has not requested since 2009," said ADB President Masato Kanda.

This marks the first amendment to the ADB...