ADB supports Thailand green bonds for Covid-19 recovery

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is assisting the government of Thailand in designing, issuing and monitoring innovative capital market initiatives as part of the country’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic in a manner aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

ADB’s technical assistance through the Asean catalytic green finance facility (ACGF) includes bond framework development and external reviews to help Thailand’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) and National Housing Authority (NHA) design green, social, and sustainability bonds based on global and Asean standards and best practices.

ADB is also helping the government develop internal systems to monitor the use of bond proceeds and prepare post-issuance reports. These measures will help lay the groundwork for more green, social and sustainability bond issuances.

The initiatives, announced on September 24, include support for Thailand’s first sustainability bond, a first-of-a-kind issuance by a sovereign in Southeast Asia. The bond was issued on August 13-14 by MoF’s Public Debt Management Office in two tranches totaling 30 billion baht (US$964 million).

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Chito Santiago