Sudan has increased its pledged contribution to the replenishment of the African Development Fund to $3 million, the country’s Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Gebreil Fediel, has announced.
Fediel made the announcement during a meeting with his Sierra Leonean counterpart, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, Gambian Finance Minister Seedy Keita, Liberian Minister for Agriculture, Dr Alexander Nuatah and African Development Bank President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
The ministers and Adesina met on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Washington DC.
The governments of the Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan are supporting efforts by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group to push for a $25 billion replenishment of the African Development Fund, its concessional window.
The four countries, together with Ghana, last year pledged to contribute a minimum of $1 million each to the African Development Fund’s 17th replenishment scheduled for 2025.
Adesina praised Sudan’s “incredible show of solidarity for increasing its contribution to the Fund and for continuing to honour its financial commitments to the Bank despite facing difficult challenges.”
The current $8.9 billion three-year financing cycle or the 16th replenishment, which ends in 2025, was the largest ever in the history of the African Development Fund.
Adesina spoke about the African Development Fund’s impressive record as the largest financier of regional transport infrastructure corridors and regional energy connectivity and power pools across its 37 member-countries.
The development finance banker said the Fund beneficiaries needed “concessional resources more than just grants and that is why our goal is to triple ADF to $25 billion. That is the reason I fought for ADF, from the first day of my leadership of the Bank, to be allowed to go to the capital markets to raise additional resources.
“ADF going to capital markets will help generate up to $27 billion additional resources starting from ADF 17th Replenishment”, he added
Sudan’s decision to top up its contribution to the African Development Fund comes a fortnight after Benin announced a $2 million pledge to the next replenishment.
The African Development Bank Group’s Executive Director for The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan, Rufus Darkortey, described the increase by Sudan a powerful demonstration of their steadfast commitment to a bigger ADF-17 Replenishment.
He said: “I commend President Adesina and the leadership of our governors and heads of state for championing the call for a bold $25 billion ADF-17 Replenishment. This unified effort reflects Africa’s determination to lead its transformation.”
Last May, Kenya’s President William Ruto pledged $20 million to the Fund.
Available data indicated that as of 2024, Nigeria’s contribution to the African Development Fund totalled $100 million loan to support women and youth-led small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as part of the Nigeria Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB) initiative.
The YEIB is a new institution that aims to create jobs and promote economic growth in Nigeria by bringing together financial and non-financial stakeholders to support youth entrepreneurs.
