By Lucy Ogalue
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Sidi Ould Tah, has said that Africa’s future development will depend on stronger regional financial cooperation and innovative risk-sharing mechanisms.
Tah said this during a media interaction at the conclusion of the 2026 AfDB Annual Meetings in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the annual meetings began on May 25 and ended on May 29.
According to Tah, Africa can no longer rely solely on public financing and fragmented development interventions to address its vast infrastructure and industrialisation needs.
He said the continent required a coordinated financial system capable of mobilising institutions at national, regional and continental levels.
“The new African Financial Architecture was specifically designed to avoid a disconnect from realities on the ground,” he said.
Tah explained that the framework would operate on the principles of subsidiarity, complementarity, coordination and risk-sharing among African financial institutions.
He said that the arrangement was not intended to create another institution but rather to strengthen collaboration among existing African financial actors.
According to him, the framework will bring together development banks, commercial banks, guarantee institutions, pension funds, stock exchanges and central banks.
He added that institutions closest to projects and beneficiaries would take the lead in decision-making and implementation.
“The objective is to improve coordination and enable African institutions to respond more effectively to development challenges,” he said.
Tah disclosed that the AfDB Board had endorsed the implementation of the African Financial Architecture for Development in line with the Abidjan Consensus.
“The African Development Bank has been mandated to move quickly from concept to implementation,” he said.
The AfDB president also emphasised the need for Africa to deepen local value addition and accelerate industrialisation.
He said that many African countries continued to export raw materials while importing finished products at significantly higher prices.
Using bauxite as an example, Tah said Africa exported the mineral at relatively low prices but imported aluminium products at much higher costs.
“The objective is to create value, jobs and industries in Africa,” he said.
He further stated that the bank was supporting technical education, vocational training and small businesses to enable African countries to benefit from their growing youth population.
According to him, digitalisation will also help formalise informal economic activities, improve productivity and strengthen economic transformation across the continent.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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