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International Operations

The African Development Bank (AfDB)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) was established on August 4, 1963 in Khartoum, Sudan, by the then 23 newly independent African countries. Membership of the AfDB Group, as at the end of December 2007, includes 53 independent African countries and 24 non-African countries. Turkey is finalising procedures to become a member of the Bank Group.

From an initial authorised capital of US$ 250 million, AfDB resources increased over a 19-year period in 1982 to US$ 2.9 billion and jumped to US$ 6.3 billion in 1983 as a result of the admission of non-regional countries on December 30, 1982. It further increased to US$ 22.3 billion barely five years later following a 200 per cent Fourth General Capital Increase achieved in Cairo, Egypt, in June 1987. The Fifth General Capital Increase concluded in 1998 recorded a 35 per cent capital increase and attributed 60 per cent shareholding to regional countries and 40 per cent to non-regional countries. The authorised capital at December 31, 2010 was US$102 billion, while the capital subscribed at the same date was US$36 billion.

The objectives of the AfDB Group are to mobilise resources for economic and social development of African countries. Constituent institutions of the AfDB Group are the African Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigerian Trust Fund (NTF). It has two concessionary windows - the African Development Fund (ADF), established on November 29, 1972, by the Bank and 13 non-African countries, and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF), set up in 1976 by the Federal Government of Nigeria. To become an AfDB member, non-regional countries must first be ADF members. Whereas the ADF provides concessionary loans and grants for projects and programmes as well as technical assistance for studies and capacity-building in low-income regional member countries (RMCs), with a view to poverty reduction, the NTF supports low-income RMCs with concessionary finance. The ADF started with the initial contributions of US$ 101 million and has had eleven general replenishments on a 3-yearly basis. The current ADF XI replenishment of UA 5.76 billion or US$ 8.9 billion for the 2008-2010 periods saw a record 52 per cent increase on previous ADF. The NTF took off with an initial capital of US$80 million and was replenished with another sum of US$71 million in 1982.

The AfDB has also been instrumental in the establishment and promotion of other African development institutions such as Africa Re-insurance Corporation, Shelter Afrique, Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), Federation of African Consultants (FECA), the Africa Project Development Facility (APDF), the International Finance Company for Investments in Africa (SIFIDA), African Management Services Company (AMSCO), African Business Round Table (ABR), African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK), African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Joint Africa Institute (JAI), PTA Bank, the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA).

The Bank has also been the lead agency for NEPAD infrastructure development, a respected guide in the development of banking and financial standards as well as the strategic partner of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

In forty-five years of its existence, the African Development Bank Group has financed more than 3,200 operations, for over US$63 billion. In 2003 the Bank obtained the best results in its history, with an AAA rating from major financial rating agencies and with a capital of US$ 32.043 billion. The AfDB has preserved its fully African character, despite the admission of non-regional countries in 1982.

efforts, international financial institutions, governments and official development aid agencies as well as non-governmental organisations, and increasingly conceived its action in consultation with the representatives of local societies, so that they might be the actors of their own development. It has further underscored the role of women, education and structural reforms, and lent its support to key initiatives such as debt alleviation for highly indebted poor countries (HIPC), regional integration, right up to the New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD, of which it is one of the brains behind its creation.

Building on lessons drawn from earlier strategies, the Bank has set out principles and priorities on the best way to maximise focus and effectiveness on its core areas; Infrastructure, Private Sector, Regional Integration and Governance while being complementary with other partners in the rest of the key domains.

In the period 1967 to 2010, total cumulative approvals by the Group were 3,526 loans and grants amounting to US$84.4 billion. Nigeria has benefited from the operations of the ADB. These include:

• US$500m for the Bank of Industry in May 2011;
• US$200m for Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) in May 2011;
• US34.3m for public private partnership in infrastructure sector development, particularly, in the power and transport sectors in March 2011;
• S$100m line of credit (LOC) for GTBank in June 2010;
• US$1m jointly with Japan to AB Microfinance in September 2009;
• US$78m to Oyo and Taraba States for urban water and sanitation projects in September 2009;
• US$150m from the Emergency Liquidity Facility (ELF) and the Trade Finance Initiative (TFI) to United Bank for Africa (UBA) in July 2009;
• US$50m to revamp liquidity in 2009 and US$100m LOC in 2006 to Zenith Bank under the Private Sector window for project financing, corporate finance, implementation of Basel 2 framework and environmental risk assessment;
• US$100m to Intercontinental Bank as LOC for SMEs in February 2009;
• US$43m for Skill Training and Vocational Education Project loan; and
• N635.44 million for strengthening institutions to support rural and agricultural development in Nigeria under the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).

The AfDB Group has a Board of Governors, Board of Directors, a President and five Vice-Presidents. The Honourable Minister of Finance and the Director, Africa and Bilateral Economic Relations Department in the Ministry of Finance stand as Nigeria's Governor and Alternate Governor in the Board of Governors. Mr. Donald Kaberuka who is the 7th elected President of the AfDB Group, assumed office on September 1, 2005. The Headquarters of the AfDB Group is in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; however, owing to political instability in the country, the Headquarters temporarily relocated to Tunis in 2003.

Visit the AFDB website - http://www.afdb.org/
Visit the AACB website - http://www.aacb.org
Visit the World Bank Website - http://www.worldbank.org
Visit WAIFEM website - http://www.waifem.org/
Visit the ECOWAS website - http://www.ecowas.int/
Visit the WAMI website - http://www.wami-imao.org/
Visit WAMA website - http://www.wama-amao.org/
Visit NEPAD website - http://www.nepad.org/
The IMF website - http://www.imf.org
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