The African Development Bank (AfDB) is this year engaged in an exercise aimed at replenishing the African Development Fund (ADF) which benefits the bank’s member States, including Malawi.
The ADF, which is the concessional arm of the AfDB Group, has been a major source of support of the continents’ lower income countries such as Malawi over the last forty years.
AfDB country representative for Malawi Andrew Mwaba told Business News in Lilongwe that the bank’s exercise is designed to replenish resources for the 13th ADF cycle to cover the period 2014 to 2016.
“The AfDB is counting on the continued support of its partners for a sound replenishment of resources for the ADF cycle,” said Mwaba.
The AfDB Malawi boss explained that the resources will enable the successful implementation of the Group’s strategy covering the period 2013 to 2022 which was launched last week.
He said the Tunis-based bank believes that replenishment of the fund will help the bank to effectively contribute to Africa’s transformation.
Mwaba said over the last forty years, the bank has provided over 4 000 loans and grants for a total of $36 billion.
“All these resources have been invested in key areas of infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, education and health, supporting governance reforms, fostering regional integration, and meeting special needs of fragile states,” he said.
He touted the ADF as a trusted partner, which has helped to change lives of the poorest communities on the continent.
Mwaba said the ADF resources are constituted by the generous contributions of the bank’s non-Africa donor member countries or state participants in the fund.
He said a number of other African countries have joined the ranks of the state participants of the ADF and have become contributors of the fund and cited South Africa, Nigeria and Botswana.
In a separate interview, Finance Minister Ken Lipenga noted that over the past years, the AfDB support has helped Malawi in key areas such as infrastructure development, agriculture and food security as well as governance.
“In fact in the case of Malawi, the bank has to date provided assistance totaling slightly over $1.3 billion covering key sectors and areas of agriculture, infrastructure, social development, governance and multi-sector budget support,” said Lipenga.
