Tonga: News Releases

ADB's Board of Directors has approved a $6.8 million grant to help reconstruct and improve disaster resilience of the Nuku’alofa electricity network that was damaged by Cyclone Gita in February 2018.

ADB will support over $1 billion in energy investments in the Pacific between 2018–2021, including 19 projects to help countries in the subregion have better access to quality, affordable, and sustainable energy sources.

ADB today signed agreements to help deliver high-speed internet to Kiribati and Nauru through a submarine cable project.

Growth in the Pacific is expected to remain weak in 2018, as economic and political uncertainties, fiscal challenges, and natural disasters hold back some of the region’s larger economies.

ADB is providing an additional $1 million, in the form of a grant, to the Government of Tonga to fund critical, life-saving services following Tropical Cyclone Gita, which caused widespread destruction on 12 February.

ADB has provided $6 million to the Government of Tonga to help fund priority early recovery activities following the onslaught of Tropical Cyclone Gita, which tore through Tongatapu and nearby ‘Eua island, late on 12 February.

ADB, the Government of Fiji, and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Regional Center for Asia and the Pacific held the South Pacific International Arbitration Conference on 12-13 February in Nadi.

ADB, together with the IMF, held roundtables to identify practical solutions to address the costs and risks of transferring remittances to Pacific countries and difficulties in undertaking cross-border transactions.

ADB's Board of Directors has approved a total of $15 million in financing for the Pacific Disaster Resilience Program which will help strengthen Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu’s resilience to disasters.

Countries in the Pacific should step up their efforts to adapt to more extreme weather conditions and mitigate disaster risks to improve the region’s economic growth prospects, according to ADB's latest Pacific Economic Monitor.