The AfDB and the Inter-American Development Bank are working closely with the IMF to make this a reality. The IMF Executive Board recently approved the use of SDRs for hybrid capital, based on the framework model jointly developed by the AfDB and the IADB. G7 members can help turn this into reality by rechannelling SDRs to the multilateral development banks. With other African and non-African partners, we have launched the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, a $10 billion initiative to address the lack of bankable green infrastructure projects, to accelerate Africa’s just and equitable transition to net zero, and to bridge the continent’s infrastructure gap in a low carbon and climate resilient manner, extensively leveraging the private sector. SUPPORT FROM THE G7 The AGIA, which has already benefited from support from G7 members and other partners, will make transformative investments, such as in renewable energy or green hydrogen projects; sustainable transport projects, including e-mobility solutions; solar and hybrid energy for heavy industry; logistics companies; energy storage; water and accelerating women’s access to finance through the Affirmative Finance Action for Women, in partnership with the Africa Guarantee Fund, working with 122 financial institutions in 36 countries. AFAWA is the first gender-focused collateralised significant risk transfer, with counter-guarantees provided by France and the Netherlands, in support of scaling up finance for women. So far it has approved $1.7 billion and financed over 8,000 women-owned businesses. By the end of 2024, AFAWA will reach $2.4 billion in support for 13,000 women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises. The Africa Investment Forum, established in 2018 by the AfDB and several partners, has so far mobilised over $180 billion in investment interest in projects in Africa, and it has closed $10 billion in investment deals from around the world. It proves that Africa is a great investment destination. As Africa’s solution bank, the African Development Bank Group will continue to innovate constantly and provide thought leadership for Africa’s development. We stand fully ready to work with the G7 and deliver more impressive results for Africa. sanitation; and new technologies. Through G7 support, the AfDB is
ACTION ON CLIMATE Moreover, the AfDB has established a Climate Action Window under its African Development Fund, to mobilise and channel resources efficiently for climate action. This initiative aims to provide accessible climate finance to the most vulnerable African countries and invest in climate adaptation, mitigation and technical assistance. With initial funding of $429 million from international partners and plans to increase this to $13 billion, we are poised to significantly enhance support for Africa’s climate action strategies. The CAW will remain a building block of the African Development Fund’s 17th replenishment in 2025. The objective will be to triple the fund’s resources and mobilise $25 billion of additional concessional funding for African low-income countries. The AfDB is spearheading the energy transition in Africa. Our $20 billion Desert-to-Power project will harness the solar energy of 11 Sahel countries and provide renewable electricity for 250 million people. When completed, it will be the largest solar zone in the world. In April, Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, and I launched a bold effort to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. In response to the G20 capital adequacy report’s call for multilateral development banks to scale up financial innovations to raise more resources in support of countries, the AfDB pioneered the issuance of $750 million in hybrid capital, the first by a multilateral development bank globally. We have helped to create a new asset class for institutional investors. The AfDB is also the only multilateral development bank to do synthetic securitisation, transferring the risks on its sovereign and non-sovereign portfolios to the private sector. We recently did a $2 billion synthetic securitisation of our sovereign operations, facilitated by a guarantee from the United Kingdom, freeing $2 billion to support finance in Africa. The AfDB is also at the forefront of efforts to rechannel special drawing rights to multilateral development banks, which holds the greatest promise to leverage more resources. This allows SDRs to be leveraged by three to four times to deliver greater development outcomes for the continent. For example, a $10 billion SDR rechannelling to the AfDB will deliver $40 billion of additional lending resources to Africa.
AKINWUMI A. ADESINA Akinwumi Adesina was elected president of the African Development Bank Group in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. He served Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and rural development from 2011 to 2015. Previously, he was vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and, earlier, served as associate director and regional director for the Southern Africa Office at the Rockefeller Foundation, principal economist for the West Africa Rice Development Association, senior economist for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture and economist for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semiarid Tropics.
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2024 — G7 ITALY: THE APULIA SUMMIT
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