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With the new injection of capital, the capital base of the bank was now USD 318 billion
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President and Chairman of the Boards of Directors, African Development Bank Group, while addressing the Chatham House, in London recently said that the African Development Bank Group, held last week in Nairobi, Kenya unanimously approved an additional USD 117 billion increases in the capital of the African Development Bank. Earlier in 2019, AfDB raised the capital from USD 93 billion to USD 201 billion in 2019. With the new injection of capital, the capital; base of the bank was now USD 318 billion.
Adesina said that the historic increase in the capital reflected the confidence of the shareholders in the workings of the bank and would accelerate the growth and development of the bank.
The AfDB chief laced five priorities of the bank as Light Up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and improve the quality of life of the people of Africa. He revealed that the working of the bank has already impacted over 400 million people in the last eight years.
Mentioning that Africa’s population was projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050 and by then one of four persons on earth will be African. With a rising middle class and projected consumer and business expenditures to reach USD 7 trillion, Africa is a formidable market of the future. with its burgeoning young population of almost a billion people under the age of 35, Africa would boom with talented skills and form the workforce for the world, he added.
With 65% of the uncultivated arable land left on earth being in Africa, what Africa does with its agriculture will determine the future of food in the world to feed the global population of 9.7 billion by 2050. Also, the future of energy transition, for a world powered largely by renewable energy, would depend on Africa. Africa has the largest solar potential in the world, which will be critical for developing green hydrogen and green ammonia that will power green economies of the world towards net zero emissions. Africa also has the largest deposits of green minerals and metals, from platinum, copper, nickel, manganese, chromium, graphite, and lithium, that are critical for the manufacturing of solar panels, battery energy storage systems, and electric vehicles, a market estimated to rise to USD 57 trillion by 2050, he added.
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