Other Group

African Development Bank

Website:

www.afdb.org/en

Type:

Finance Organization

Formation:

1964

President:

Akinwumi Adesina

Location:

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

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The African Development Bank is a multilateral development finance organization that invests in economic development projects in African member states. 1

History

In 1958, the Organization of African Unity was founded. The heads of state of Liberia, Ghana, and Guinea also held the Tubman-Nkrumah-Toure conference over four days in the village of Sanikoli, Liberia. Shortly after, the Monrovia Conference, which similarly brought together African heads of state, developed a draft charter for the African Development Bank. 2

Following the conclusion of the conference, the draft charter was forwarded to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which resulted in the establishment of the Committee of Nine, a think tank consisting of financial experts and economists from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanganyika and Zanzibar (now the United Republic of Tanzania) that conducted visits to African heads of state, as well as Western and Eastern European leaders, to advocate for the creation of an African development bank. 2

On August 4, 1963, an agreement was co-signed by twenty-three African governments formally establishing the African Development Bank. The agreement came into force about a year later on September 10, 1964. 2

In November 1964, the inaugural session of the African Development Bank’s board of governors met in Lagos, Nigeria. Roughly a year later in March 1965, the bank established its headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Additional offices were made available to the Bank on the premises of the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2

The Bank’s first two projects were carried out in 1966 and 1967: an equity investment in the National Development Bank of Sierra Leone, and a loan for road construction in Kenya. 2

In 1972, the Bank established the African Development Fund with 13 non-African countries with initial contributions totaling $101 million. In 1976, the Bank created the Nigeria Special Fund, which was created by the government of Nigeria with an initial capital investment of $80 million. 2

In 1982, the Bank began admitting non-regional member countries from members of the African Development Fund. 2

From February 2003 through the end of 2013, the Bank operated from a temporary Relocation Agency in Tunis, Tunisia due to political unrest in Côte d’Ivoire, before returning to its Abidjan headquarters in 2015. At that time, the Bank had roughly 2,000 employees. 3

Activity

The Africa Development Bank makes investments with an aim to promote the economic development and independence of member states. These investments include sectors such as agricultural development, communications, environmental development, finance, the mining and quarrying industry, power, transportation, urban development, and water supply and sanitation. 1

Examples of the bank’s investments in 2024 include a project to fund emergency humanitarian assistance to populations affected by floods and landslides in Ethiopia and another to fund entrepreneurial agribusiness development among youth and women in the Central African Republic. 4 5

Funding

The African Development Bank is funded by subscriptions from member countries, borrowing on international markets, loan repayments to the bank, income from investments, and replenishments from the African Development Fund and Nigeria Trust Fund. 6

Leadership

Akinwumi A. Adesina has been the president of the African Development Bank since May 28, 2015. Formerly, Adesina was the Agriculture Minister of Nigeria, associate director and regional director for the Southern Africa Office of the Rockefeller Foundation, principal economist for the West Africa Rice Development Association, senior economist and social science coordinator for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, assistant principal economist for the semi-arid tropic of the International Crops Research Institute, president of the African Association of Agricultural Economists, as well as a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Agricultural Economists. 7 8

References

  1. Homepage. African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.afdb.org/en
  2. History.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/corporate-information/history
  3. [1] “History.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/corporate-information/history
  4. “Central African Republic – Promising Sectors Development and Youth Women Entrepreneurship Promotion Support Project in the Agribusiness Sector.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://mapafrica.afdb.org/en/projects/46002-P-CF-A00-004
  5. “ETHIOPIA – Emergency Humanitarian Assistance to Populations Affected by Floods and Landslides.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://mapafrica.afdb.org/en/projects/46002-P-ET-AA0-023
  6. “Frequently asked questions on the AfDB Group.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/frequently-asked-questions
  7. “Biography: Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina President, African Development Bank Group.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/organisational-structure/the-president/biography
  8. “BIOGRAPHY: Dr Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina President, African Development Bank Group.” African Development Bank. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/news_documents/prst_adesina_biography_17_january_2022_-_extended_version_0.pdf
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