Abidjan: Mauritania’s former finance minister was named the next head of the African Development Bank (AfDB), taking over the multilateral lender at a time when Western countries are pulling support and amid a global trade war.
Sidi Ould Tah, who won after three rounds of voting by AfDB shareholders, pledged during his campaign to strengthen Africa’s financial systems, leverage its natural resources to help the continent industrialize, and unlock new pools of capital.
The president-elect succeeds Nigerian Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina who was was first elected to the position on May 28, 2015 as the eighth leader of the development lender.
Though his record is mixed, the Nigerian leaves behind a financially sound institution. Last year, the AfDB posted a net profit of €310 million(US$351.7 million).
Mr Tah built a strong reputation reshaping the finances of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, a smaller, but fast-growing lender.
While there he tapped into Gulf financial support and there are hopes he can replicate that approach on a larger scale with the AfDB as the continent grapples with fears of a global economic slowdown and the curtailing of aid and financial support by Western powers.
After the vote, Tah thanked shareholders in French, which was notable after calls from some Francophone countries for one of their own to replace the Nigerian Akinwumi Adesina. But he ended his speech with a rallying cry in English: “Now let us go to work, I am ready.”
