May 16-31, 2018
The takeaways of the recently concluded 53rd Annual Meetings of African Development Bank held at Busan, Korea have to be seen objectively. Merely basing the assessment on the media handouts from AFDB may not be the right track for the Bank and people of Africa. The increase in approvals and disbursements –US$ 8.7 billion approvals and US$ 7 billion disbursements-highest in history of Bank, may be an achievement for the Board of Governors to pat on each other’s back. But the 54-year old Bank has to compare its achievements with the lofty objectives for which it was set up.
More than revenue maximizing, the overall development of the region, particularly in sectors like infrastructure development, education, healthcare, employment generation etc should take precedence over prudent management, increasing its staff strength and other sundry objectives.
The Bank has yet to create a major impact in the crucial sectors for lifting the economies out of poverty. For instance, infrastructure development in some of the member countries needs a huge revamp. Rail and road connectivity are far from satisfactory in most of the countries . Air connectivity is not toned up to the levels that it may enthuse foreign investors to come to the country or African investors to invest in neighboring or countries, which enjoy comparative advantages of availability of raw materials or local skills. Industrialization of Africa has been a major plank of the Bank and was the selected theme of the Annual Meeting of 2018. Africa continues to export raw materials of all hues and sizes, denying the region the advantage of value addition and job generation. More astonishing is that African countries are major importers of consumer and industrial goods processed from its raw materials elsewhere, particularly from the US and European countries.
The Board of Governors have rightly taken a decision to search for more resources from internal and external sources. In this regard, the Bank will hold an Africa Investment Forum in November 7-9, 2018 in Johannesburg in South Africa. Yet, some soul searching has to be done as to why the meeting of the Bank, where decisions are taken affecting over 54 countries and over a billion people are not reported globally the way it deserves other than the Bank’s portal. Even for writing this piece, Africa4U has to depend on collation of information from various sources and scant reports in social media. It is in stark contrast to what is happening in the case of World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) or the newly formed BRIC Bank, where even a small steering committee meeting is reported widely across geographies.
Let us hope, when the Board meets next time at Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in 2019, for its 54th annual session a new focus, purpose, direction will emerge .
