The Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission addresses the 2022 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group

The Deputy Chairperson of the African Commission H.E. Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, addressed the 57^th  Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group that opened on 24 May 2022 in Accra, Ghana.

At the Presidential Dialogue themed: “Africa’s Development challenges and opportunities”; she recalled that prior to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict, the Africa’s Development Dynamics Report showed the continent being on a positive track to recover from Covid-19 with an expected 3.9% economic growth in 2022, only one percentage point lower than the global average of 4.9%.

To avoid any further negative consequences of the pandemics and conflicts for Aspiration 6 of the African Union Agenda 2063, calling for ‘an Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children’, the Deputy Chairperson of the African Commission called for the prioritization of critical sectors such as agriculture, agro-industry and services and for shifting from heavy reliance on exports of non-transformed commodities and imports of manufactured goods to a real industrial transformation process,.

Boosting production and securing supply of food, medicines and other necessary imports yearly is necessary to meet the needs of peoples of our continent, she highlighted, noting that managing debt financing and ensuring economic growth while realizing debt sustainability, are of paramount importance. “Productive projects that accelerate economic growth contributing to development objectives are also key in this regard”, added H.E Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa.

During the African Union Assembly this February, our African Heads of State and Government, in Decision 817, called for “a substantial 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund to enable it to meet the growing needs of the continent.”

AU’s F15 Ministers of Finance during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, last month, reemphasized, in their communiqué stating “[that they] call for a substantial and transformative 16th ADF Replenishment and for the ADF to be allowed to go to the market to leverage its equity and raise additional resources to offer at affordable rates to Africa’s low-income countries, in line with the decision of the African Union Heads of State and Government adopted in February 2022.”   

Concluding her remarks, H.E. Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa lauded this replenishment as timely as African Union and AfDB work together to support agricultural and other key sectors, highlighting that his is where facilities such as the African Development Fund are key to support African states in times of need such as is the case currently.

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