Accra, Friday 27th May 2022 - The Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to pursue an aggressive resource mobilisation drive through Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for Africa’s recovery and transformation.
Additionally, he asked the Bank Group to reform regulations of the African Development Fund (ADF) – the concessional financing window of the Bank Group, to reform its regulations to enter the capital market.
The Vice President made this call when he delivered a speech at the just ended 57th Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of AfDB in Accra.
He said, “The Bank should effectively pursue the strategic decision of the EU to make the AfDB the delivery vehicle for the Special Drawing Rights and leveraging these SDR resources to drive Africa’s recovery and transformation.”
He encouraged the Bank Group to also prioritize and explore the issuance of security indexed investment bonds to raise funds to combat the increase in insecurity, enhance capacity to protect investments and livelihoods and rehabilitate communities and infrastructure adversely impacted by insecurity.
“I would like to underscore the need for this and add my voice to the call that the bank undertakes an aggressive resource mobilisation drive, especially for the ongoing ADF 16 window to meet the exigencies of these times. The bank should endlessly reform the regulations to enable the ADF to enter the market to leverage its resources,” he emphasized.
The Vice President remarked that doing so will make African countries have increased funding that would impact how countries upgraded and expanded their health facilities and build up competencies of pharmaceutical industries to manufacture vaccines and therapeutics.
He said that although the Bank had contributed so much in building the African economies, today, it was challenged even more, as economies were facing the fallout from the Russia Ukraine war, compounding the economic vulnerabilities triggered by the COVID 19 pandemic.
The continent’s average real growth rate was projected to decline from 6.2% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022.
Meanwhile, economic consequences in the form of rising inflation subdued growth, increase in inequality and greater macro fiscal instability were affecting the cost of living on this continent.
Dr Bawumia, said, “I have no doubt that the bank will rise up to the occasion and help our economies scale over these hard times.”
He added that, “It is reassuring that the ADB is offering complementary leadership on climate action in Africa, including mobilising climate financing and this is critical because we know that climate change has severe consequences for Africa’s economic growth prospects.”
“I am convinced and confident that this Bank, our Bank, the African Development Bank, has the right leadership and skill set to continue to digitalize Africa, industrialize Africa feed Africa, light up and power Africa, integrate Africa and transform the quality of the lives of the African people,” he said.
The Vice President commended the Bank for evolving to become integral to the sustained and inclusive development of this continent and delivering the needed support for its people.
He remarked that aside the immense socio-economic interventions, especially in infrastructure, agricultural modernisation, social protection, and entrepreneurial development, the Bank was also at the forefront of seeking fairness for Africa in the global arena.
“These efforts have substantially improved inequality, vulnerability and fragility on the continent,” he noted. END