South African President and African Union chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa and Nobel peace laureate and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have commended African Development Bank (AfDB) president Akinwumi Adesina for his “visionary leadership and bold initiatives to accelerate Africa’s development and to support the continent through the Covid-19 crisis”.
Ramaphosa expressed appreciation for the bank’s commitment of $26-million for the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, its support in the procurement of critical medical supplies in Africa and the financial instruments the bank has provided to assist member countries through the pandemic.
The AfDB recently launched a $3-billion Fight Covid-19 social bond, with bids exceeding $4.6-billion. It is the largest dollar-denominated social bond ever launched in international capital markets and the largest dollar benchmark ever issued by the bank.
It also launched a $10-billion Crisis Response Facility to support Africa and to address the pandemic.
Through these initiatives, the bank indicated that it was poised to deploy funds to provide African governments and the private sector with access to financing to reduce the economic and social impacts of Covid-19.
“I commend the AfDB for taking these bold initiatives and for the role played by the AfDB under your leadership during this challenging period,” Ramaphosa said in a written message of support to Adesina.
Echoing his statement, Sirleaf said: “The leaders of Africa, and I dare say the world, have recognised the important changes that you have made in the bank – reorganisation of management and restructuring of bank operations around the High 5s that represent a response to Africa’s more critical development needs.”
Acknowledging the bank’s highest ever capital replenishment last year, Sirleaf added: “Take heart, dear president, knowing that Africa respects your intellect and commitment and is pleased that, through your leadership, our premier institution has received worldwide acknowledgement and recognition for high-quality performance and impacting results.”
Under Adesina’s leadership, the AfDB has centred its mission around its High 5 development priorities: Light Up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.
The bank’s shareholders in 2019 approved a landmark general capital increase of $115-billion, the largest in its history, increasing its capital base to $208-billion.