Over the last seven years, African countries have received about Sh6.2 trillion ($44 billion) from the African Development Bank to build their infrastructure, highlighting some of the financial institution’s significant achievements since its establishment years ago.
According to the bank’s President Akinwumi Adesina, the funds have gone towards regional and national infrastructure projects across the continent.
Speaking during the 5th Mid-Year Coordination meeting of the African Union (AU) in Nairobi, Adesina spoke of what he said has been AfDB’s greatest achievements in the continent since its establishment in 1964.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, AfDB disbursed about $10 billion as part of the response facility to support governments and the private sector in the continent to tackle the effects of the pandemic.
The release of the funds followed what Adesina said was the increase in the General Capital of the bank from $93 billion in 2019 to $208 billion. Since its establishment, this increase was the highest ever in the bank’s history.
Nine heads of state and government attended the 5th Mid-Year Coordination meeting, including the chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and deputy secretary general of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed.
Also present were the heads of pan-African organisations, regional economic communities, and representatives of international agencies.
The AU convened the meeting under the theme, “Acceleration of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation.
AfDB, according to Adesina, has also been at the forefront, helping to pioneer an innovative financial structure that met International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s technical requirements to re-channel Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) through multilateral development banks.
This is to help complement efforts by African leaders who have since last year called for an additional $100 billion in SDRs for the continent.
The initiative seeks to enable the African Development Bank to leverage the SDRs by a factor of four and deliver significant resources for the continent.
“We must decisively tackle Africa’s rising debt challenge,” Adesina said, expressing concern at the continent’s total debt stock, which stands at $1.3 trillion. The cost of debt servicing reached $22 billion in 2022 and is expected to rise this year.
Regarding mobilising resources to tackle Africa’s food insecurity, Adesina highlighted the January 2023 Dakar 2 Food Summit, which up to 34 heads of state and government, development partners, farmers and private sector operatives attended.
The Bank has, to date, mobilised $72 billion to implement the food and agriculture delivery compacts developed during the summit.
In his remarks to open the session, AU chairman and President of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, said Africa must close its ranks to achieve its vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful continent.
“In this increasingly turbulent world, we need more than ever to close ranks if we are to meet the challenges that continue to grow with each passing day, and it is through what is now our motto, African solutions to African problems, that we will achieve an Africa that is reconciled with itself, prosperous and open to the world,” Assoumani said.
On the other hand, President William Ruto said that Africa must capitalise on the current reform momentum at the AU to develop an adequate capacity to deliver the much-desired pan-African transformation.
“It is my prayer that we finally make the right decision and build an organisation that is fit-for-purpose, has the requisite finances, the needed voice and the leadership that can project Africa’s position much more, clearly, with a strong voice, so that we can take our place in the community of nations,” Ruto said.
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