The African Development Bank (AfDB) will inject $125 million into African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), a move that will make it the agency’s largest shareholder and strengthen efforts to attract more private investment into infrastructure and development projects across Africa.
The disclosure was made by AfDB President Sidi Ould Tah in an interview with Reuters following the bank’s annual meetings held in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, last week.
Tah, who assumed office as president of Africa’s largest development finance institution in September 2025, is championing a new financing approach as traditional development assistance continues to decline.
According to available data, development aid from wealthy nations fell by nearly a quarter last year to $174.3 billion, while cuts in funding from major contributors, including the United States, have increased pressure on development institutions such as the AfDB.
What they are saying
Tah explained that the $125 million investment forms part of the bank’s broader New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD) initiative, which seeks to mobilise Africa’s vast domestic financial resources to address the continent’s infrastructure and development funding needs.
The initiative aims to unlock an estimated $4 trillion held in African institutional capital pools, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance assets and savings schemes. According to Tah, these resources remain largely fragmented despite Africa facing an annual development financing gap estimated at about $400 billion.
He said the strengthened partnership with ATIDI would significantly expand the use of guarantees as a tool for attracting private capital into infrastructure projects and other strategic sectors across the continent.
- “Our target is to bring the level of guarantees provided by ATIDI to 10 billion (dollars) annually and reach a target that will really unlock huge potential for financing infrastructure at scale,” said Tah after the bank’s annual meeting in Brazzaville last week.
According to him, the planned investment will increase AfDB’s ownership stake in ATIDI from 3% to 14%, making the bank the institution’s largest shareholder. He noted that ATIDI has historically supported investments worth an average of $3 billion annually through its guarantee and insurance products.
More insights
Established 25 years ago and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, ATIDI was created to reduce investment risks across Africa by providing insurance and guarantee products that encourage private sector investment in markets often perceived as high risk.
- The institution is currently owned by 24 African countries alongside several institutional investors, including African financial institutions and Germany’s KfW Development Bank, which joined the shareholder base earlier this year.
- The AfDB’s planned investment represents a notable shift in ATIDI’s ownership structure, which has traditionally been spread across member countries, with nations such as Togo and Benin among its largest shareholders.
- Tah said the bank is also encouraging more African governments, development institutions and private investors to acquire stakes in ATIDI to strengthen its capital base and expand its ability to support investment flows into the continent.
- He disclosed that discussions are ongoing with several financial institutions and countries interested in increasing their shareholdings or becoming shareholders for the first time. France is also reportedly considering increasing its stake, with further details expected during a G7 meeting scheduled to hold later this month.
Tah stressed that Africa must increasingly rely on domestic capital mobilisation to meet its long-term development objectives, insisting that African resources can play a much larger role in financing African growth.
What you should know
The latest investment initiative comes as the African Development Bank continues to expand its interventions across key sectors of the continent’s economy.
- As reported by Nairametrics on May 28, the AfDB warned that Africa’s trade finance gap could widen to as much as $86.6 billion by 2027 due to growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, rising energy costs and tighter global credit conditions.
- The bank has also deepened its support for major infrastructure projects across Africa. Recently, Nigeria signed a Letter of Intent with the AfDB to advance the $7 billion Integrated Aviation Transformation Programme (IATP), aimed at modernising the country’s aviation sector.
- In addition, the AfDB approved a $200 million financing facility for the Bank of Industry (BOI) on May 16 to improve access to long-term funding for businesses operating in critical sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
The planned investment in ATIDI aligns with the bank’s broader strategy of mobilising private capital, strengthening risk-sharing mechanisms and closing Africa’s widening infrastructure and development financing gap.
