African Development Bank Group Governors endorse the bank’s vision for the next 10 years
The African Development Bank Group has concluded five days of annual meetings in Accra, Ghana on Friday with a rallying cry from its President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, to be proud of Africa’s progress.
He told delegates at a spectacular closing ceremony at the end of the Bank Group’s Annual Meetings that they were all what he called “partners in hope who shared a passion for the continent and who should celebrate Africa’s successes.”
Ghanaian Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia represented President Nana Akufo-Addo at the closing ceremony. With him were Finance Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta, the outgoing Chair of the Bank Group’s Board of Governors.
Africa Investment Forum showcases major projects, including $15.6 billion Abidjan-Lagos Highway
On the margins of the African Development Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings, the Africa Investment Forum convened investors to promote the power of the platform to draw critical investment to the continent.
The investor roundtable on 25 May came at a time when capital flows are in flux in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Such discussions are integral to the Africa Investment Forum, connecting project sponsors, investors, and financiers, as well as the public and the private sector.
Within the context of this year’s Annual Meetings theme: Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa, the interactive dialogue highlighted several flagship projects that define the AIF platform’s unrivaled convening capacity. The drawcard of the Annual Meetings added to the appeal of the event. The Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group usually draws around 3,000 government leaders, policymakers and other decision makers.
Ghana signs grant agreement with African Development Fund, government of Switzerland, to support development of mini-grids and solar PV net metering
The government of Ghana has signed a grant agreement with the African Development Fund, and a financing agreement with the government of Switzerland, for the Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering project. The project will benefit schools, health centres and communities across the country.
The agreements, for the development of 35 mini-grids and stand-alone solar PV systems, were signed on Wednesday 25 May at a short ceremony held on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings. They were signed by Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, chairman of the board of governors of the African Development Bank Group, Ambassador Dominique Paravicini, the African Development Bank Group’s governor for Switzerland and Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, president of the African Development Bank.
The post Covid-19 era has highlighted the importance of reliable energy services. The project will support Ghana’s Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) program, which identifies the energy sector as an enabler of economic transformation.
African Economic Outlook 2022: Africa’s 2021 economic rebound impacted by lingering Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war
Africa’s gross domestic product has recovered strongly in the last year, but the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing war could pose considerable challenges in the medium term. This is according to the 2022 African Economic Outlook, released by the African Development Bank on Wednesday.
Africa’s gross domestic product grew by an estimated 6.9% in 2021. This is after the continent suffered a pandemic-induced contraction of 1.6% in 2020, says the Bank’s flagship publication.
Rising oil prices and global demand have generally helped improve Africa’s macroeconomic fundamentals, the report found. But growth could decelerate to 4.1% in 2022, and remain stuck there in 2023, because of the lingering pandemic and inflationary pressures caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. Both countries are major grain suppliers to Africa.
African Development Bank, MASEN and RES4africa to co-organise training programme for Sahel countries
The African Development Bank, MASEN and RES4Africa have agreed to join forces on a dedicated solar energy training programme in 2022, to foster the uptake of solar energy in five Sahel countries.
The programme, to be conducted in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, will focus on energy professionals and policy makers from the target countries, and proposes a first stage institutional training course in June- July, followed by a vocational mini-grid focused training course in September-October.
Dr. Daniel Schroth, Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the African Development Bank, announced the move during the RES4Africa Annual Conference and 10th Anniversary(link is external).
Mozambique: African Development Bank to serve as advisor for development of 1500 MW Mphanda Nkuwa hydropower project
The African Development Bank has signed an agreement with Gabinete de Implementação do Projecto Hidroeléctrico de Mphanda Nkuwa, an implementing entity, to provide advisory services for the development of the $4.5 billion 1,500 MW Mphanda Nkuwa Hydro Power Project in Mozambique.
The agreement was signed Tuesday on the side-lines of the Bank’s Annual Meetings, which are taking place in Accra from 23-27 May.
The agreement was signed by Mr Carlos Yum, Director of Gabinete de Implementação do Projecto Hidroeléctrico de Mphanda Nkuwa and Dr. Kevin Kariuki, African Development Bank Vice President for Power, Energy Climate and Green Growth.
Africa’s leading financial institution will avert looming food crisis
The African Development Bank Group’s Board of Directors has approved a $1.5 billion Emergency Food Production Facility to help tackle the global food crisis sparked by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
The funds will help 20 million African farmers produce an extra 38 million metric tons of food to address growing fears of starvation and food insecurity on the continent.
The Bank, which is Africa’s only AAA-rated financial institution, has consistently maintained this credit rating by all major global credit rating agencies.
The emergency food production package comes as the African Development Bank gathers in the Ghanaian capital of Accra for its 2022 Annual Meetings this week. Delegates will take stock of the Bank’s projects, which have impacted the lives of 335 million Africans in the last five years, while looking ahead to new challenges and opportunities.
African Development Bank support for two road projects opens up major agricultural areas in the DRC
In the early 2010s, Godelive Ngalula, a trader from Kikwit, the main town of Kwilu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spent a week to travel the 350 kilometres (km) to Tshikapa in Kasaï Province and 50,000 Congolese francs (about $24.5) on food. A decade later, the situation has changed. “The trip takes only about a day thanks to the better road. Travel costs have dropped from $80 to $20 and I spend only 2,000 Congolese francs, or $1, on food,” she says happily.
Madeleine Mahamba lives in Lukaka in Kasai Province and no longer has the anxious task of collecting drinking water every day. Where she had to walk five km from her village to the Makode spring early every morning, she now has to take only a few steps from home to collect enough water for her needs. “It took us almost two hours to go there and back,” she says. “Now, we no longer have to worry about getting water. We have enough to drink even when we are working in the fields.”
Madagascar : la Banque africaine de développement approuve une nouvelle stratégie d’intervention pour la période 2022-2026
Le Conseil d’administration du Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement a approuvé le 11 mai dernier, à Abidjan, le Document de stratégie-pays pour la période 2022-2026 pour Madagascar, son nouveau cadre d'intervention pour la Grande île.
Les interventions de la Banque pour les cinq prochaines années à Madagascar vont se concentrer sur deux domaines prioritaires : le développement des infrastructures d'énergie et de transports pour soutenir la croissance inclusive, et le soutien à la transformation de l'agriculture et au développement de l'industrie manufacturière.
Le nouveau document a été élaboré dans un cadre participatif comprenant les autorités gouvernementales, le secteur privé, la société civile et les partenaires au développement de Madagascar. La stratégie est alignée sur le Plan émergence de Madagascar dont la vision à long terme est de faire du pays, une économie potentiellement émergente à l’horizon 2030.
African Development Bank Group head urges development partners: ‘Be the advocates for a substantial African Development Fund replenishment’
African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina has urged international development agencies in Africa to rally behind his institution’s efforts to mobilize more resources to help build resilience for sustainable development across Africa.
Adesina told diplomats and international agency representatives at a breakfast meeting in Accra last Thursday that African countries need more resources to fight climate change, to deal with insecurity, debt, and the impact of war in Ukraine. He said funds are also needed to address the massive infrastructure deficit, growing urbanization, and youth unemployment. .
Adesina was on a three-day visit to Ghana ahead of the African Development Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings, due to take place in Accra from the 23rd to 27th of May.