Browsing: African Development Bank (AfDB)

• Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah will take over from Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina on September 1, 2025, stepping into a position laden with immense responsibility—and expectation.
• With traditional donor fatigue setting in—highlighted by U.S. funding cuts about $555M—Tah faces a tighter aid environment.
• Tah strategy seeks to deepen Africa’s ties with oil-rich Gulf countries in infrastructure financing, while tapping into the continent’s capital markets.

When Mauritania’s seasoned economist Sidi Ould Tah emerged victorious in the tightly contested race for the presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the continent, already edgy due to dwindling aid cuts, and Trump tariffs edged closer to a new financing chapter under a new captain.

Securing a commanding 76 per cent of the vote after three rounds, Dr. Tah will take over from Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina on September 1, 2025, stepping into a position laden with immense responsibility—and expectation.

But beyond the celebratory moment in …

• At AfDB annual forum, policymakers note that Africa must roll out policies that enable its capital—both financial and human—to work better and harder for its development.
• Leaders note that success of Agenda 20263 depends on the continent’s ability in capital deployment, ensuring it effectively and addresses long-standing structural inefficiencies.
• To-date, infrastructure woes, fragmented financial markets, and joblessness among youth continue to undermine the continent’s growth.

Africa stands at the threshold of a new era — one defined not by its challenges but by the vastness of its opportunities. As the world’s youngest continent, home to a growing population projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, Africa is rich not just in demographics but in resources, innovation potential, and human capital.

Yet despite these inherent advantages, the continent’s transformation into a global growth engine has been inconsistent and, in many areas, underwhelming. The message emerging from the 2025 Annual Meetings of …

• The programme will be rolled out in Bahr el Ghazal in the north, Eastern Equatoria, Central Equatoria and Jonglei states, creating 179,200 new jobs.
• UN’s FAO and South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security have been picked as the implementers.
• The initiative will boost productivity by an additional 350,000 tonnes of rice and sorghum and 2,450 tonnes of fish.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $46.2 million grant for South Sudan’s agriculture sector. This grant is set to finance South Sudan’s Climate Resilient Agri-Food System Transformation Programme, which is set to run between September 2024 and December 2030.

Over these six years, the project aims to deploy climate-smart technologies and production systems on a large scale while also strengthening the priority value chains of businesses led by women and young people.

The project brief shows that the project seeks to promote digital agricultural and climate advisory solutions …

• ATIDI supports the 35MW greenfield geothermal project in Kenya with its Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF).
• The project, the first to be considered for RLSF cover in Kenya, is set to benefit from ATIDI’s liquidity instrument which will cover the risk of payment default by public entities: Geothermal Development Corporation and Kenya Power.
• Kenya’s power sector benefits from an active private sector and boasts abundant renewable energy resources with hydro, wind, and geothermal projects dominating its energy mix.

Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF)

The African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) and Globeleq Africa Limited, have jointly announced the former’s support for the 35MW Globeleq Menengai Geothermal Project with liquidity cover via the Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF).

RLSF, a joint initiative of ATIDI, the KfW Development Bank and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), is a credit enhancement instrument available to renewable energy Independent Power Producers …

• The Eastern Africa Power Pool has made major inroads in increasing cross-border electrification.
• The system has the potential to connect 600 million people to clean energy.
• EAPP member countries are Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) is targeting to go live on power auctioning (trading) by December this year, the secretariat now indicates, in what will allow the 13-member countries to sale excess electricity across borders.

This comes as countries continue to build a strong power connection network, amid huge investments in renewable energy mainly solar, wind, hydro and geothermal.

The EAPP member countries are Burundi, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Council of Ministers and the EAPP Steering Committee met in Nairobi this week to deliberate on the future of the power pool …

• According to the African Development Bank’s Macroeconomic report, Africa will dominate the world’s 20 fastest growing economies 2024.
• According to the report, the medium-term growth outlook for the continent’s five regions is slowly improving.
• The report forecasts more substantial growth for Africa in 2024, outpacing the projected global average; the continent is the second-fastest-growing region after Asia.

Fastest Growing Economies 2024

The African Development Bank Group’s latest Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook (MEO) indicates real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the continecustom nfl football jerseys decathlon bmx luvme human hair wigs bouncing putty egg custom kings jersey dallas cowboys slippers mens johnny manziel jersey custom kings jersey custom youth hockey jerseys brock bowers jersey luvme human hair wigs black friday wig sale college football jerseys decathlon bmx uberlube luxury lubricant nt is expected to average 3.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent in 2024 and 2025, respectively. (https://unitedwepledge.org/…

• Central Africa’s economic performance was powered by the DRC, which grew at a jaw-dropping 8.5% in 2022.
• Central Africa growth rate was higher than the African average, which is estimated at 3.8% in 2022, down from 4.8% in 2021.
• The region id projected to settle at 4.9% in 2023 and 4.6% in 2024.

Central Africa achieved real GDP growth of 5.0 per cent in 2022 compared with 3.4 per cent in 2021, as the region posted the strongest performance compared to other regions in the continent.

This was in terms of growth, inflation and budget deficit, a new report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) indicates.

Central Africa oil, minerals and commodities’ wealth

The rebound in economic activity was driven by favourable prices for raw materials. Increasingly, Central Africa economies are turning out to be a net exporter of crude oil, minerals and other commodities.

In comparison, the region’s …

• Kenya is among countries that are heavily indebted with the loan stock at staggering 67.3 per cent of GDP.
• Total debt stood at $67.7 billion (Ksh9.6 trillion) as of April, Central Bank of Kenya data shows.
• This comprised $35.9 billion external debt and $24.6 billion borrowed from the domestic market.

President William Ruto is calling for “urgent” redesigning of global financial institutions to ensure fairness in financing of economies, as he continues to lash out at the West over debt traps in poor states.

In what seems to be a swing at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Dr Ruto is pointing to a post-colonial Africa where development has stalled due to limited resources to liberate economies.

Lenders placing debt traps in poor States

This is from what Dr Ruto terms institutions that were extractive by design; only placing debt traps in poor states. Over the years, Kenya’s …

• Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange posted drop in capitalization in April due to investor flight.
• Other poorly performing bourses were Uganda, Mauritius, Namibia, Morocco, Tanzania, Rwanda and Tunisia.
• Zambia, South Africa, Ghana and Egypt remained positive railing Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Zimbabwe has maintained the lead in the African equity markets returns by recording the highest gains at 112.33 percent year-to-date, the latest data shows. In the period under review, Malawi recorded the highest month-on-month value of 10.96 percent.

At the same time Kenya posted the highest drops both on year-to-date and month-on-month, Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) monthly barometer indicates, which stood at negative 15.56 percent and minus 3.52 percent, respectively.

Other poor performers across Africa were Uganda, Mauritius, Namibia, Morocco, Tanzania, Rwanda and Tunisia. In West Africa, Nigeria performed poorly on the month-on-month index but remained positive year-to-date. Zambia, South Africa, Ghana and Egypt remained positive railing Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Kenya’s …

• Kenya is among the top three countries receiving the most international remittances across sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Ghana. Overall, the US, Saudi Arabia and UK account for nearly three-quarters of total annual inflows into Kenya.
• Kenyans living abroad sent home $357 million in March 2023, a 15.5 percent increase compared to February.
• As a whole remittances from the African diaspora are estimated at $95.6 billion annually, making it a key foreign exchange earner.     

Diaspora remittances have risen to become Kenya’s largest foreign exchange earner, surpassing the country’s key exports such as tourism, tea, coffee and horticulture. According to Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data, diaspora remittances rose by 8.34 percent to $4.027 billion in 2022. In the same period under review, tea exports earned the country $1.2 billion, horticulture $901 million, chemicals $521 million, coffee $301 million and petroleum products $77 million. The widening disparity highlights the crucial role …