AfDB raises $11bn for low-cost lending window, no word on US funding

Source: Reuters.

Officials at AfDB had initially aimed to raise $25bn for the African Development Fund (ADF), which is replenished every three years, after raising $8.9 bn in 2022.

The AfDB, Africa's biggest development lender, made the announcement after a two-day donor pledging conference in London, which was overshadowed by waning US engagement.

"In one of the most difficult global environments for development finance, our partners chose ambition over retrenchment, and investment over inertia," Sidi Ould Tah, AfDB's president, said in a statement.

Some 19 African nations, including Kenya, Zambia and Ivory Coast, made their first ever contributions to the fund, AfDB said, with African member states of the bank pledging $182.7m.

The AfDB's statement did not disclose whether the US pledged any funding. The US government has not commented.

The Trump administration pulled a $197m funding tranche for the ADF in May, casting doubts about US commitment in future fundraising.

The ADF has provided $45bn to 37 low-income African countries since 1972, financing irrigation, roads and electricity projects.

Unlike the AfDB's main lending window, which carries higher interest rates and stricter conditions, the ADF offers grants and concessional loans with repayment periods exceeding 20 years.

Its role has grown as heavy debt burdens, shrinking aid and tighter global capital markets limit governments' access to finance.

The funds raised from the donor conference, which was co-hosted by Britain and Ghana, came from a total of 43 partners, the lender said.

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) pledged $800m, AfDB said, while the OPEC Fund for International Development pledged $2bn.

AfDB has been seeking contributors to the fund after the US pullback, cultivating new donor states, reviewing its charter to allow for the raising of $5bn of seed funding from capital markets each cycle, and tapping philanthropic organisations.