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.
African Development Bank Group seeks US support for $1.5 billion emergency food plan for Africa
The president of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, made a compelling case, on Wednesday, for the United States to back the institution’s $1.5 billion emergency food production plan. The plan seeks to avert a looming food crisis in Africa caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Bank chief, and a panel of witnesses, testified about global food insecurity and persisting impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic before the US Senate subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. Among others, senators Chris Coons (Delaware), Lyndsey Graham (South Carolina), Dick Durbin (Illinois), Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Roy Blunt (Missouri) participated in the hearing.
COP15: Global GDP could gain $140 trillion a year, if we achieve the objectives of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
The global economy could increase by more than $140 trillion a year[1], or 1.5 times the annual global GDP, if the objectives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) are achieved, participants heard during a side-event at the 15th summit of the UNCCD.
Camilla Nordheim-Larsen, Senior Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Coordinator at the UN Convention, noted that action in the land sector has the potential to generate up to $140 trillion a year and create 400 million new jobs, while failure to act can result in losses in the range of $44 trillion. The Sustainable Development Goal for Life on Land is least funded, but can contribute most to resilience, she said, speaking at an event on innovative finance mechanisms for sustainable landscapes, hosted by the African Development Bank and partners.
Rwanda: African Development Bank approves loans of $180 million to reinforce transmission and last mile connectivity
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved two loans amounting to $180 million to co-finance a major energy project that will extend electricity access to rural areas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Rwanda.
This follows the 26 May 2021 approval for $84.2 million from the resources of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the Bank Group, for the same project.
Financing for the Transmission System Reinforcement and Last Mile Connectivity project comprises $140 million from the African Development Bank sovereign window and a $40 million co-financing from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), as well as resources from the ADF.
South African Investment Conference highlights nation’s resilience
African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina has pledged his institution’s support for South Africa, announcing a $2.8 billion package for the country over the next five years. Some $400 million (ZAR 6 billion) will support South Africa’s Eskom and the country’s energy transition.
Adesina was speaking at the opening of the South Africa Investment Conference in Johannesburg today. President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the South African Investment Conference, the first physical convening of participants since 2019, with a message of optimism and determination in the face of a global pandemic, tough economic headwinds, and millions of job losses.
President Ramaphosa said: “We meet at a time when our country is facing huge challenges but great opportunity and promise. Our economy has been severely damaged with the loss of two million jobs. I am here to share with you what has been done and what we are doing.”
African Development Bank Group approves new Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa 2022-2026
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a new strategy for addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa for the period 2022-2026. The strategy offers a roadmap for building more resilient institutions, economies, and societies across the continent over the next five years.
This is the Bank’s third fragility and resilience strategy, built upon previous strategies in 2008 and 2014. It draws on lessons learned from the Bank’s 20-year engagement on fragility in Africa and its increasingly sophisticated understanding of its drivers. The strategy has been informed by extensive consultations with partners and stakeholders, and identifies three interconnected and mutually reinforcing priorities, namely: strengthening institutional capacity, building resilient societies and catalyzing private investment.
“These priorities have clear synergies with many of the Bank’s existing sectoral and thematic strategies, including the Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa, the Private Sector Development Strategy, and all the High 5 priorities,” said Dr. Yero Baldeh, Director of the Transition States Coordination Office.
The Africa Investment Forum: catalyzing financing for game-changing Abidjan-Lagos highway project
The construction of the 1,081-kilometer Abidjan-Lagos highway will have a significant impact on the economies of five West African countries - Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Valued at $15.6 billion and led by the Economic Commission of West African States, this transformative public-private partnership project was the largest investment opportunity showcased at the Africa Investment Forum(link is external) virtual boardrooms held from 15 to 17 March 2022.
The Africa Investment Forum is a transactional, multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary platform that raises capital for large-scale investments in Africa. In advance of the Market Days event planned for November 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, the African Development Bank and the seven founding partners of the Africa Investment Forum hosted virtual boardroom sessions over three days to discuss and advance deals in the pipeline for the 2021 Market Days. This flagship, in-person meeting, was postponed due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.