African Development Bank, AfDB, President, Akinwumi Adesina, has revealed that Africa’s public debt, currently estimated at $546 billion, represents one-quarter of the continent’s GDP and is higher than the combined total annual government revenues of $501 billion.
Speaking , weekend at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Adesina said the African Developmenat Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional lending arm, had supported low-income countries with $8.5 billion over the last five years.
Calling on African Union leaders to strongly support the Fund’s 16th replenishment in 2022, Adesina advised that a funding restructure of the African Development Fund would allow the Fund to go to market, leverage its $25 billion in equity, and raise an additional $33 billion in financing for low-income countries.
The Bank Group chief reminded African leaders that they had asked for re-allocated IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to be channeled through the African Development Bank, a prescribed holder of SDRs.