After two years of negotiation, the board of the African Development Bank (AFDB) has authorized the bank to increase its capital base to a record-breaking $208 billion.
The President of AFDB, Mr Akinwunmi Adesina, speaking in a press conference after negotiations ended on Thursday, explained how joyous and proud he was about the achievement. The new capital base is the highest in the bank’s history.
“This is a joyful day for Africa, a historic day, this will give us greater stability for the future,” Mr Adesina.
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The President, speaking on the benefits or profits of the increase, said the additional funds would assist the bank to fund operations in energy, climate, and agricultural projects while supporting infrastructural needs for the success of a continental free-trade zone.
The African Development Bank, which was established in 1964 to foster sustainable economic development and social progress in its member-states, thus contributing to poverty reduction, has 53 African countries as well as 26 non-African states as members. The African Development Bank carries out the mission by mobilizing and allocating resources for investment in member-countries and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts.
Each member-state has the rights to appoint a representative to the board whose voting power is subject or proportionate to the amount of money the country contributed.
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Meanwhile, the bank in a recent development as earlier published on Nairametrics, launched a bond issue worth over $2 billion, to put the bank’s total borrowing in 2019 at $4.4 billion. The transaction received strong support from investors globally with order books reaching $2.8 billion and 53 investors participating. The high quality of the order book is illustrated by the strong participation of Central Banks and Official Institutions, taking 64% of the allocations.
