Asian Development Bank (ADB) has improved its performance in loan disbursement in the year 2016, according to the latest version of the regional bank's report on its aid effectiveness.

The report titled '2016 Development Effectiveness Review' was released at the 50th Annual Meeting of ADB's Board of Governors in Japan's port city of Yokohama.

It showed that Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, and Viet Nam accounted for 66 per cent of all sovereign project and result-based lending disbursements in the last year.

"Bangladesh had the highest disbursement ratio, 23.4 per cent, of the top five countries with disbursements of $823 million," it mentioned.

The disbursement ratio means the ADB's actual disbursed amount against its lending target.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, however, expressed his disappointment over the poor utilisation of aid in the country.

"Bangladesh is the star performer of the ADB loan utilisation, but we have a huge amount in the pipeline," he said, while talking to journalists in Yokohama after a meeting with the SAARC finance ministers.

"We have to improve our aid utilisation capacity," he added.

The ADB attributed the better performance in Bangladesh to a concerted effort by the staff of ADB's South Asia Department, including the Bangladesh Resident Mission.

The department and resident mission successfully "pursue potential disbursements and advance actions, realise additional disbursements from 2016 contract awards through timely mobilisation of advances, and execute loan savings effectively."

The report measured how good ADB was executing its corporate strategies and strategic priorities of the mid-term review of the strategy across 91 results indicators.

Commenting on the report, director general of the ADB's Strategy and Policy Department Indu Bhushan said: "ADB will continue streamlining its operations so that it can deliver development solutions more quickly and effectively, while continuing to scale up finance for the region."

Of the top five members on loan disbursement, India accounted for a record $1.38 billion, with a disbursement ratio of 18.2 per cent.

It was followed by China ($1.31 billion, and a disbursement ratio of 19.7per cent) and Pakistan ($838 million with the disbursement ratio 19.6 per cent).

Viet Nam had the lowest ratio of the five (13.8%) with disbursement of $707 million, partly because of the government limits on disbursements from projects funded by official development assistance.

ADB approved $17.5 billion in financing in 2016 from its own resources and attracted $13.9 billion in co-financing -- both are new highs. The bank also disbursed $12.48 billion, which is another record.

"The overall improvement in the sovereign project and RBL disbursement performance during 2016 was achieved through concentrated efforts by regional departments," said the report.

"Close monitoring of project implementation progress, strong collaboration between project team leaders and executing and implementing agencies in promptly resolving implementation issues related to procurement and safeguards, and focus on strengthening the capacity of executing agencies were all contributing factors."

According to the report, the bank met or surpassed 62 per cent of the targets for development results and, operational and organisational effectiveness.

As of December 31 last year, the ADB's cumulative lending to Bangladesh stood at $18.3 billion for 269 loans, $252.4 million for 422 technical assistance projects, and $787.10 million for 35 grants.

As of 31 March 2017, ADB's projects under implementation in Bangladesh comprised of 90 loans and grants amounting to $7.6 billion; and 32 technical assistance projects amounting to $28.58 million.

Again, in 2016, The ADB approved 10 projects for Bangladesh, with loans totalling $1.1 billion and technical assistance of $7.85 million.