African leaders have lent their voice to African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) call for action to reform the global financial architecture to unlock more resources to scale up Africa’s economic transformation in the years ahead.
The agitation for the reformation of the global financial architecture reform heightened at the AfDB’s 2024 Annual Meetings in Nairobi, where six African Presidents joined the AfDB Group’s President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s call for the reform.
With $200 billion invested in development projects across the continent since its establishment in 1964, the African Development Bank Group is leading the charge in transforming Africa’s development landscape, as a solutions bank.
A news report from African Press Organisation (APO) Group circulated on behalf of the AfDB indicated that the Annual Meetings brought together the Bank Group’s governors representing 54 African countries and 27 non-African shareholders.
Speaking at the forum, the Kenyan President, William Samoei Ruto, emphasized the need for change, saying that “today, we assert that transforming the international financial architecture is imperative to give Africa a fair chance to turn its immense potential into opportunities to overcome multiple challenges and develop inclusively and sustainably.”
In a show of support for the Bank’s efforts, Ruto announced that Kenya would spend $100 million over the next three years to increase its shareholding in the AfDB, Afreximbank and Trade Development Bank.
In addition, he announced a commitment of $20 million to the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional window, “as a demonstration of Kenya’s confidence [in the Fund].”
Ruto commended the commitment of the Bank Group to infrastructure development in Kenya, adding that “Kenya is among the beneficiaries, in a very big way, of the African Development Bank’s financial might, and its innovative financing of projects.”
Ruto also expressed Kenya’s support for the channeling of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) through multilateral development banks, a move that the African Development Bank together with the Inter-American Development Bank has championed, with success.
In his keynote address, Adesina highlighted the impact of the bank’s investments across Africa through its High 5 priorities of Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Integrate Africa; Industrialize Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. Over the last eight years, the Bank’s investments have impacted more than 400 million people.
He said: “In 2023, our financing totalled over $10 billion, across all our High 5 priorities” adding that “in the past nine years, we have invested well over $50 billion in infrastructure projects on the continent, by far the largest investment of any multilateral development bank or institution.”
Adesina listed several innovative initiatives to demonstrate the Bank’s role as a catalyst for change, driving Africa’s transformation through record investments and partnerships.
In addition, he highlighted the $10 billion Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA), a groundbreaking partnership with Africa50 and the African Union, aimed at accelerating the development of sustainable infrastructure projects. This initiative is set to drive the continent’s transition towards a greener and more resilient future.
The foremost economist also emphasized the bank’s commitment to supporting the digital economy, citing the $618 million i-DICE programme in Nigeria that will create 6 million jobs and add $6.4 billion to the economy.
According to him, the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women (AFAWA), in partnership with the Africa Guarantee Fund, has financed more than 18,000 women-owned businesses, providing them with the capital and support needed to thrive in their respective markets
Specifically, Adesina estimated that “by the end of this year, AFAWA would have reached $2 billion in support for up to 30,000 women-owned small and medium sized enterprises.”
Last year, the bank established Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks to provide financial and technical support to businesses owned by youth and the Board of Directors has already approved $16 million for Liberia and $12 for Ethiopia to set up Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks.
In eleven African countries—Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia—the Bank, together with partners, is establishing Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), designed to transform Africa’s agricultural sector by creating value-addition hubs.
On the growing need for mobilizing financing and deepening reforms, the Islamic Development Bank Group President, Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser outlined the benefits of a longstanding cooperation with the AfDB.
He expatiated: “Between 2017 and 2023, we achieved a record co-financing volume of $2.9 billion with the African Development Bank, enabling us to co-finance 22 operations across diverse sectors”, adding that both banks have recently set new co-financing targets, to deliver greater impact.
In his remarks, the AfDB Group Boards of Governors’ Chairperson and Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury of Kenya, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u urged governors to “deepen discussions” on growing the bank’s callable capital.
He said: “This will protect the Bank’s triple A rating on sustainable basis against recurrent external shocks, including downgrade of its triple A rated shareholders [and] enable the Bank maintain its lending trajectory and preserve its position as a strategic lender and the premier development finance institution in Africa.”
Similarly, the African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, described the 2024 Annual Meetings of the AfDB as “an appropriate forum for kick-starting the process of formulating and working out the African common position on strategic issues” such as the reform of the Bretton Woods system, debt management, climate change financing, and the international tax system.
Leaders also stressed the urgency of mobilizing financing to build climate-resilient African economies even as Adesina said that the bank “is well on its way to reaching its goal of mobilizing $25 billion in climate finance, and last year we devoted 45% of our total lending to climate finance.”
Some heads of state that attended the opening ceremony of the Annual Meetings on Wednesday and participated in subsequent presidential dialogue include President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, the President of the Presidency Council of the Government of National Unity of the State of Libya Mohamed Younis al-Menfi, Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, and African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Close to 5,000 delegates are attending the Bank’s Annual Meetings, including heads of multilateral development banks, diplomats, development partners, representatives of civil society organizations and the private sector.
