The 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group held from May 22-26 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on the theme ” Mobilising Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa” in the presence of 4,000 participants representing 81 countries was closed.
At the closing ceremony on Friday, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina stressed the need for coordination between the various players in the field of development to ensure that the different funding programmes and development strategies complemented each other.
The objective, he added, was to align with the objectives of Agenda 2063 and to give priority to overall socio-economic development, democratic governance and security and peace in the region.
The AfDB President described the renewal of the resources of the African Development Fund (ADF) as “exceptional” by participating countries and donors, with approximately 8.9 billion dollars, including 8.5 billion dollars in core funding for the fund and 429 million dollars for climate, which will strengthen the capacity of the AfDB Group to meet the financing needs of African countries, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the AfDB Group was an opportunity to reflect on ways to mobilise more solid private investment, which Africa needs to achieve its urgent objectives in terms of climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The AfDB President said that the renewal of the resources of the African Development Fund (ADF) was considered “exceptional” by the participating countries and donors, with approximately 8.9 billion dollars, including 8.5 billion dollars in core funding for the fund and 429 million dollars for climate, which will strengthen the capacities of the AfDB Group to meet the financing needs of African countries, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic.
At the close of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and the 49th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 22 to 26 May 2023, African finance, planning and economic development ministers on Friday called for reforms to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) system to strengthen the global financial safety net and provide more liquidity to developing countries.
During these meetings, the AfDB focused on ways of mobilising private investment and encouraging the private sector to direct its projects towards green projects with a view to combating climate change, adapting to it and alleviating its impacts.
Central bank governors representing 54 African states and 27 non-regional countries and members of the Bank held a high-level dialogue with AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina to discuss the transformation of the current international financial structure and ways to seize this situation to regularise the leading role of multilateral development institutions.
In the same context, the AfDB has published its annual report on the African Economic Outlook for 2023, which forecasts growth in the North African region at 4.6% in 2023, compared with 4.1% in 2022.
The report also forecasts that Tunisia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate will reach 2.3% over the period 2023-2024.
The next Annual Meetings will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 27 to 31, 2024.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse