ADB uses the International Development Association’s operational cutoff for eligibility as the income threshold. Graduation from concessional assistance is normally triggered when a country exceeds the per capita GNI operational cutoff and achieves adequate creditworthiness for regular OCR or market-based resources. Graduation from concessional assistance involves close consultation with the DMC (endnote ii, para. 44). The process of graduation normally takes about 4 years to complete, after crossing the income threshold (endnote ii, para. 49).

ADB’s Graduation Policy (endnote iii) and Concessional Assistance Policy for the ADF 13 Period guide the eligibility for concessional resources. According to the Graduation Policy, group A developing member countries (DMCs) are eligible for COL and/or ADF grants,1 group B DMCs are eligible for COL and have access to regular ordinary capital resources (OCR) lending but are not eligible for ADF grants,2 and group C DMCs have access only to regular OCR lending. ADF grant-recipient countries are generally restricted from public or publicly guaranteed regular OCR borrowing.