By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, May 26, GNA – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has achieved the largest capital increase in its history, raising the capital from $93 billion in 2015 to $318 billion in 2025.
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President and Chairman of the Boards of Directors African Development Bank Group, said the achievement was unprecedented.
Dr Adesina was speaking during the President’s Media Welcome Breakfast at the 2025 Annual Meetings of the Bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
He said the Bank had achieved the highest replenishment of the African Development Fund in the history of the Fund, as they successfully raised $8.9 billion for its 16th replenishment.
He said the Bank had become a people-centered Bank and Africa’s development solutions Bank.
“As we set sail in 2015, we launched the Bank’s strategic High 5s to light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialize Africa, integrate Africa and improve the quality of life of the people of Africa,” he said.
The President said the High 5s have impacted on the lives of over 565 million people across Africa, including 128 million people now have access to improved health services, 121 million people now have access to improved transport and 104 million people are now food secure.
He said 63 million people now had access to potable water, 34 million people to improved sanitation, and 28 million people to electricity.
Dr Adesina said from the groundbreaking and unprecedented Mission 300 Energy Summit jointly launched in Dar Es Salaam by the Bank and the World Bank Group, and other partners, another 300 million Africans would have access to electricity by 2030.
He said, “I see the impact of the work of the Bank on the lives of people in Egypt, where today our support for the Gabal El Asfar wastewater treatment plant now provides sanitation for 12 million residents.”
The President said it was now the largest water treatment plant in Africa and was set to serve a total of 17.5 million people by 2040.
He said he had seen the impact of their work in Senegal and the Gambia, where a 50-year dream came true.
The Senegambia Bridge, made possible by the African Development Fund, reduced a two-day ferry crossing to just 15 minutes and trade flows had surged, while communities were also reconnected.
“I see the impact of our work in helping Africa avert a looming food crisis following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine,” he said.
He said as headlines warned that the continent would lose up to 30 million tons of essential food imports (wheat, maize and oilseeds) from Russia and Ukraine, the Bank moved swiftly.
He said through their $1.5 billion Emergency Food Production Facility, they have implemented the Feed Africa plan and in just two years, 13 million farmers across 29 countries gained access to improved seeds and fertilizers, enabling them to produce 44 million tons of food (116 per cent above target) valued at $17.3 billion.
“The High5s have become the anchor for development across Africa, and this is what bold leadership, and responsive finance, can achieve,” he added.
GNA
CA/