Africa elects its next ‘super banker’

The selection of the next leader for the African Development Bank (AfDB) concludes on Thursday, with five candidates, including one woman, competing to succeed Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina. The race appears to be highly competitive.

In 2015, the election of Adesina as AfDB president required six rounds of voting. The AfDB, established in 1964, currently boasts 81 member nations, with 54 of these being African states.

Headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the AfDB stands as one of the world’s largest multilateral development banks. Its operations are funded through member subscriptions, loans secured on global markets, and income derived from loan repayments.

Adesina’s successor will immediately face a challenging international economic climate, particularly impacted by policy announcements from the US Trump administration. Beyond tariff implications, the AfDB also confronts the potential loss of $500 million in US funding designated for projects supporting low-income countries across the African continent.

The five candidates vying for the presidency represent various regions of Africa:

• West Africa: Amadou Hott, former Finance Minister of Senegal, and Sidi Ould Tah, former Finance Minister of Mauritania.
• Southern Africa: Zambian economist Samuel Munzele Maimbo and South African Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, who previously served as a Vice President at the institution.
• Central Africa: Abbas Mahamat Tolli, the former governor of the Bank of Central African States. Notably, Central Africa has never held the AfDB presidency.