The African Development Bank says it has delivered on its goals of reducing poverty and fostering inclusive growth on the African continent by scaling up development support for 54 regional member countries.
The bank disclosed this in a statement, noting that its investments have benefited millions of Africans through its 10-year strategy which it began implementing in 2013.
One of the highlights of the bank’s decade-long commitment include the general capital increase from $90bn to $203bn indicating a $115bn raise, the largest in the history of the bank since its establishment in 1964.
“The bank also takes pride in the successful replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF) with donors contributing $7.6bn at 35 percent increase in financing for low-income African countries. The bank also recorded some plus in the area of resource mobilisation to push for support of women-owned businesses at the G7 summit which held in Biarritz, France, with the France President giving $135m to the cause which is more than half of what the G7 contributed.
“The bank also has in place, agreements that were signed to facilitate project financing for women entrepreneurs in Africa. In 2019, the bank also secured more than $40 billion worth of investment interest in less than 72 hours at the second edition of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Forum, which is touted as Africa’s largest marketplace for mobilizing capital, also featured 56 boardroom deals valued at $67.6 billion – a 44% increase from the 2018 debut,” the statement said.
In 2018, according to the statement, the bank said it launched ‘Room2Run,’ a pioneering $1 billion synthetic securitisation of a portfolio of its private sector loans to serve as a model for other multilateral development banks and investors.
The bank added that in March it raised $3 billion in a three-year bond to help ease the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on livelihoods and Africa’s economies.
It said, “The Fight Covid-19 social bond garnered interest from central banks and official institutions, bank treasuries, and asset managers, including socially responsible investors, with bids exceeding $4.6 billion.
“It was the largest dollar-denominated social bond ever launched in international capital markets and the largest US dollar benchmark ever issued by the Bank. It will pay an interest rate of 0.75%.”
In the statement, AfDB listed other milestones to include the listing of the ‘social’ bond on the London Stock Exchange and its Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation programme, which is “leading the charge in helping to transform local staple crops across the continent, including maize, rice, wheat, cassava, high-iron beans, sorghum, millet, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as well as livestock and fish.”
