Challenges & Opportunities For AfDB: Realize ‘High 5' Aims In 10 Years

The African Development Bank has provided a roadmap to the growth of agriculture in African countries with a plan to inject nearly $2.4 billion every year for 10 years:

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The 52nd Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the 43rd Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund (ADF) took place in Ahmedabad between 22-26 May 2017 with calls for greater cooperation between the bank and India to help drive Africa’s transformation. The deliberations underlined various measures taken to overcome problems faced by the African countries in dealing with agricultural and industrial development of the continent and stressed on the need for the banking system to be prepared to satisfy the evolving financial appetite of the member countries.

African Development Bank Group has been making tremendous efforts in the implementation of its 10-year strategy encapsulated in the ‘High 5’ priorities. These are (i) Light up and power Africa, (ii) Feed Africa, (iii) Industrialize Africa, (iv) Integrate Africa, and (v) Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. With the ever-increasing need to meet the demands of the High 5s, the Bank Group’s operations rose by over 17% in 2016. In the same vein, cumulative investments, rose by 19% over the figure for 2015. In real terms, over 22 million people benefited from the bank’s finance services ranging from improvements in water to sanitation to healthcare to electricity to agriculture and transport.

SOVEREIGN FUNDS

Akinwumi Adesina, president, African Development Bank Group, emphasized the need to bring in the private sector in the bank’s High 5s projects. “The Africa Investment Forum is a completely transactional forum to enable mega deals and fast-track investments in Africa by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance and other institutional investors.Our job is to bank on Africa’s future. We will trust the youths and we will enable their entrepreneurship,” says he.