Global campaign for aid and development transparency, Publish What You Fund has named African Development Bank (AfDB) the most transparent organisation in the world, with a top score of 98.5.

Publish What You Fund’s 2022 Aid Transparency Index was released on Wednesday, with AfDB’s Sovereign Portfolio now ranking first out of 50 global development institutions.

The Index is the only independent measure of aid transparency among the world’s major development agencies.

AfDB achieved the highest score in the Aid Transparency Index’s ten-year history and moved into the top spot from its fourth-place ranking in 2020.

“The Bank has remained consistently in the ‘very good’ category since 2014. It has consistently demonstrated its commitment to increased transparency and its extraordinary progress over the past 10 years in providing high-quality information and becoming more transparent,” said AfDB senior VP Swazi Tshabalala.

The ranking criteria include finance and budgets, basic information data, organisational planning and performance.

AfDB’s non-sovereign portfolio was assessed for the first time, and separately, in the 2022 Index.

The Bank is the second most transparent development finance institution dealing with non-sovereign operations and its non-sovereign portfolio is ranked 12th among the 50 global development institutions under comparison.

“I am elated to learn of this outstanding recognition from Publish What You Fund. It is a testament to the relentless efforts of the more than 2 000 personnel across our organisation who work tirelessly to accelerate Africa’s progress. Maintaining razor-sharp focus, they consistently deliver top quality under the highest levels of scrutiny. I am incredibly proud of them. I commend Publish What You Fund for their important mission, combining robust research and technical expertise with targeted advocacy and engagement to make aid and development efforts more transparent and effective,” said AfDB president Dr Akinwumi Adesina.

Tshabalala said the Bank had worked hard over the years to improve the disclosure of its aid flows by providing consistent, high-quality, and easily accessible data.

“Our top ranking has significant human and financial resource implications, as this is the only way to conduct our development business,” she said.

She noted that the past year had been complex and challenging for development transparency, especially so when large volumes of funding were being assigned to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Publish What You Fund CE Gary Foster said for many years now, the AfDB had engaged to understand the demands of the Index, and had then re-engineered its approach to disclosure, accordingly publishing more comprehensive, higher-quality data.

This has been made possible because the efforts of their technical staff are matched by commitment to aid transparency from the highest levels of the organisation, added Foster.