Photos: AfDB\Wikimedia Commons
The African Development Bank will this week select a new leader as the continent’s biggest finance institution looks to confront US funding cuts.
Washington plans to slash more than $550 million in funding — almost a tenth of the lender’s disbursements in 2023 — just as the AfDB prepares for its next three-year funding cycle. The cuts to the bank’s main development fund, which offers low-price financing to Africa’s poorest countries, will likely force a reset in the way the lender operates and will be the new president’s first major test.
Heads of state and finance officials were due to gather in Abidjan on Monday for the start of the AfDB’s annual meetings with a new president set to be announced on Thursday following a vote.
Five candidates are vying to replace Akinwumi Adesina, who will step down in September after occupying the role for the maximum two five-year terms.
