Haruhiko Kuroda

President and Chairperson, Board of Directors
Asian Development Bank

Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda is the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Chairperson of ADB's Board of Directors. He was elected President by ADB's Board of Governors in November 2004 and was reelected in November 2006 for a new five-year term.

Before joining ADB, Mr. Kuroda was Special Advisor to the Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and a professor at the graduate school of economics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

In a career spanning nearly four decades, Mr. Kuroda has represented Japan's Ministry of Finance at a number of international monetary conferences as Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs.

During his terms as Director-General of the International Bureau and as Vice Minister of Finance between 1997 and 2003, Mr. Kuroda helped design and implement the US$30 billion Miyazawa Initiative – Japan's response to Asian economies hit by the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

Under his leadership, Japan helped Asian nations establish the Chiang Mai Initiative, a network of currency swap agreements designed to avert another crisis.

Born on 25 October 1944, Mr. Kuroda holds a BA in Law from the University of Tokyo and a Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Oxford.

He joined the Ministry of Finance in 1967. Eight years later, he was seconded to the International Monetary Fund. After returning to the Ministry, Mr. Kuroda assumed a number of senior posts in the Ministry's international finance and taxation bureaus. While Deputy Director-General of the International Finance Bureau, he was responsible for Japan's official development assistance as well as relations with multilateral development financial institutions including ADB.

Mr. Kuroda served as President of the Ministry's research arm, the Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, for one year before returning to the International Bureau as Director-General. Two years later, he was promoted to Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, responsible for policy planning, international coordination, and external representation.

After retiring from the Ministry in 2003, Mr. Kuroda was appointed Special Advisor to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Koizumi to advise the premier on international monetary issues.

He has authored several books on monetary policy, exchange rate, international finance policy coordination, international taxation, and international negotiations.

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY