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Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao. Credit: ADB

Nakao will now head the bank for another five years until 2021. He was the sole nominee for the presidency when governors were invited to put candidates forward between May and June after he announced his intention to stand in April.

“It is a great honour to receive the mandate of ADB members to serve as president of the ADB for another five years,” Nakao said.

“I will devote myself to continuing to lead the ADB to an even more elevated standing as the primary institution in the region that helps achieve inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.”

Nakao was first elected to the role in 2013 to serve the remaining three and a half years of the term of his predecessor, Haruhiko Kuroda.

Since he took on the presidency, the ADB has overhauled its strategic priorities, increased its lending capacity by $7bn by merging two of its accounts and scaled up its operations as a result, reaching a record level of $16.3bn worth of loan and grant approvals last year.

The ADB has also implemented institutional reforms, including delegating more authority to resident missions, streamlining procurement and other procedures, establishing a public-private partnership office and strengthening sector and thematic expertise under his leadership, a statement said.

Before joining the ADB, Nakao was a senior official in Japan’s ministry of finance. His current term ends on 23 November.