Accra, 25 May 2022 (TDI): The African Development Bank (AfDB) is hosting the 57th Annual Meetings of the AfDB and the 48th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund in Accra, Ghana from May 23 to 27.
AfDB is Africa’s only AAA-rated financial institution. Accordingly, AfDB’s 2022 Annual Meeting will mainly focus on how can this outstanding institution react to the current crises across the African continent. Moreover, delegates will take stock of AfDB’s former projects during the meeting.
AfDB Group: An Outstanding African Financial Institution
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group was established in 1964 with three main constituent institutions. They are the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF).
Today, as a cross-continental institution, AfDB has 54 African countries and 27 non-African countries as its shareholders. During the past five years, AfDB has launched a series of projects which benefited the lives of 335 million Africans.
For now, to cope with new global and regional challenges, the AfDB is still on its way to supporting the African continent. Moreover, 2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of the African Development Fund (ADF).
During the past 50 years, ADF has contributed a lot to the continent. According to the date, ADF has promoted 16.4 million people to improve agriculture productivity.
Meanwhile, ADF has supported the construction of 327 km Power distribution lines. Besides, 1.4 million people have benefited from investement projects offered by ADF. At the same time, ADF offered support for building or rehabilitating 3,099 km of feeder roads.
AfDB: New Missions in a World with New Challenges
According to Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghanaian Finance Minister, both AfDB and the continent should get ready to cope with triple crises of food, energy, and finances.
Besides, Akinwumi Adesina, the President of AfDB, also pointed out that African countries need more resources to fight climate change, to deal with insecurity, debt, and the impact of war in Ukraine.
Moreover, Akinwumi emphasized that funds are also needed to address the massive infrastructure deficit, growing urbanization, and youth unemployment.
Therefore, AfDB and its partners and members are facing new missions in the context of such multiple global crises currently. To offer urgent support, AfDB has already launched baskets of new projects and strategies.
For example, to tackle the global food crisis sparked by the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the AfDB has approved a $1.5 billion Emergency Food Production Facility to support the African continent.
Simultaneously, to support energy transformation, Akinwumi said that AfDB will no longer finance coal. Just like Akinwumi’s words, “We shall all have challenges, but we will never give up”.
With comprehensive partnerships with various stakeholders across the African continent and all over the world, AfDB is still on its way to building a better Africa with Africans.
