The African Development Bank (AfDB) successfully raised $11 billion for its African Development Fund (ADF), which provides favourable financing to the continent’s low-income nations, exceeding the $8.9 billion secured in the previous 2022 replenishment cycle.
This significant fundraising achievement was announced following a two-day donor pledging conference held in London this week.
Despite the increase, the figure fell considerably short of the AfDB’s ambitious initial target of $25 billion, an aspiration heavily impacted by waning US commitment and the withdrawal of a funding tranche by the Trump administration earlier in the year.
The official AfDB statement regarding the conference remained conspicuously silent on any contribution from the United States government.
In a strong show of African solidarity, 19 African nations, including Zambia, Kenya, and Ivory Coast, made their inaugural contributions to the ADF, collectively pledging $182.7 million to help bridge the funding gap.
Key non-African partners also stepped in, with the OPEC Fund for International Development pledging $2 billion and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) contributing $800 million.
The AfDB’s president, Sidi Ould Tah, praised the donors, stating, “In one of the most difficult global environments for development finance, our partners chose ambition over retrenchment, and investment over inertia.”
The ADF, which has provided $45 billion for vital infrastructure and development projects since 1972, is crucial for governments grappling with high debt burdens and limited access to global capital markets.
Moving forward, the AfDB is exploring new avenues for funding the ADF, including reviewing its charter to permit the raising of seed capital from global capital markets and actively cultivating new donor states and philanthropic organisations to ensure the fund’s continued capacity to offer grants and concessional loans.
