Mauritania’s Tah elected president of AfDB, Africa’s top development bank

By Loucoumane Coulibaly

Former Mauritanian Finance Minister Sidi Ould Tah has been elected president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the lender said on Thursday, after a poll during the bank’s annual meeting in Ivory Coast.

He will replace Akinwumi Adesina, a Nigerian economist who will step down in September after completing the maximum two five-year terms in office.

The AfDB, which has $318 billion in capital, is owned by 54 African states and non-regional nations including the U.S., Japan and Saudi Arabia. Its biggest shareholder is Nigeria.

Tah will take over as the bank grapples with Washington’s plans to cut $555 million in funding to its African Development Fund (ADF), which offers low-priced financing to more than 30 of the continent’s poorest nations.

“African economies are under immense pressure, facing multiple crises like rising debt burdens, climate shocks, inflation and limited fiscal space,” said Serah Makka, executive director for Africa at