eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
The African Development Bank (AfDB) shareholders have shown strong support for proposals to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic as the continent faces a possibility of a third wave amid poor vaccine access.
This emerged from the three day annual meetings of the bank which ended on Friday last week. The meetings included the 47th meeting of the Governors of the African Development Fund, the bank’s concessional lending arm.
Part of the proposal is that AfDB, the continent’s only development finance institution with a AAA credit rating, act as a conduit for International Monetary Fund (IMF) special drawing rights, which it would then on-lend to African countries.
AfDB president Dr Akinwumi Adesina proposed an African stability mechanism, modeled on a European one, to act as a firewall against external shocks. Dr Adesina also pledged that the bank would strengthen support to African countries as they tackle the pandemic’s economic and health impacts.
Going forward, Dr Adesina said the AfDB would invest heavily in domestic vaccine manufacturing and in Africa’s healthcare system, noting that only 51 percent of public health facilities have basic water and sanitation, and only 31 percent of healthcare facilities have electricity. The president underlined the fact that Africa imports 60-70 percent of its pharmaceutical drugs.
Dr Adesina said: “The lives of 1.2 billion people in Africa are at risk… we must give hope to the poor, the vulnerable, by ensuring that every African, regardless of their income level, gets access to quality healthcare, as well as health insurance and social protection.”
Kenneth Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister and Chairperson of the African Development Bank Board of Governors, cautioned at the start of the meetings that Africa risked being left behind as a result of the pandemic and was “staring down the possibility of a lost decade, where its economic trajectory pulls further away from that of the rest of the world.” He said the African Development Bank should take a leading role in the continent’s recovery.
“Our bank, distinct in its role, has to be at the center of Africa’s build-back through targeted support to tackle Africa’s development challenges and lay the foundation to respond to future challenges,” Ofori-Atta said.
To date, less than 1 percent of Africa’s adult population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, even as Africa confronts new variants and fast rising cases while the continent’s health and economic responses are hampered by tightening fiscal constraints.
The meetings comprised closed-door discussions between the governors (finance ministers and central bank governors of the regional and non-regional member countries of the bank), and knowledge events on healthcare, debt sustainability and climate change.
In attendance were IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, World Trade Organisation director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed. Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is President and Chairperson of the Global Green Growth Institute, was also among the panelists.
Green growth was high on the agenda. In a panel discussion, Alok Sharma, British Member of Parliament and Conference of the Parties (COP) 26 President, said it was vital that developed countries deliver on a US$100 billion commitment to tackling climate change.
Patrick Verkooijen, chief executive of the Global Center on Adaptation, lauded the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, a joint initiative between the GCA and the AfDB to mobilise US$25 billion to accelerate climate change adaptation across Africa.
