The opportunity for a reimagination of GCC-Africa economic ties

Arab News

03-06-2025

https://arab.news/z3sk6
The election last week of Dr. Sidi Ould Tah as the new president of the African Development Bank is more than a leadership succession at Africa's most important financial institution. It also marks a potential moment for geopolitical realignment, one that could finally realize deeper financial cooperation between Africa and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as an opportunity for GCC states to take a leadership role and reinvent development finance.
Tah, the former finance minister of Mauritania and, for the past decade, president of the now Riyadh-based Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, steps into this role with a unique and timely experience to leverage. At the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, he oversaw the transformation of the bank from a modest Arab-funded institution into a strategic regional lender. During his tenure, it quadrupled its capital base and earned an AAA rating, placing it among the top tier of global development institutions. In 2023, it pledged $50 billion in financing to Africa during the Saudi-Arab-African Economic Conference — a signal of rising Saudi and GCC interest in African development.
Tah's election — making him only the fourth leader from an Arab African country to hold the post in the African Development Bank's 61-year history and the first in 20 years — comes at a time when the continent needs a catalyst for fresh financing models, including development, philanthropy and impact investment. As traditional donor countries tighten aid budgets and with major shifts underway globally with development finance, African economies are looking east and south for capital, cooperation, investment and leadership.
The prospect of closer GCC-African cooperation is not novel, but it has rarely been bolstered with sustained political will and institutional follow-through. Tah's appointment changes that equation. He brings with him credibility in African policy circles and long-standing ties to Gulf financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds and Arab development agencies.
African economies are looking east and south for capital, cooperation, investment and leadership.
Matthew Miller
Under his leadership, the African Development Bank could serve as a bridge between the GCC countries' economic diversification and Africa's need for reliable, large-scale financing for infrastructure, energy and digital transformation. Tah has already proposed a continental guarantee agency, designed to reduce both political and commercial risks that often deter private investment on the continent. Such a mechanism, if backed by Gulf capital and implemented effectively, could unlock billions in infrastructure investment across Africa.
At the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Tah also helped coordinate more than $835 million in co-financed projects with the African Development Bank. That experience is a strong foundation for what he is now poised to build: a long-envisioned Arab-Africa Financial Consortium. The goal will be a formal platform for institutions from both regions to collaborate, co-finance and de-risk development projects. Under Tah's leadership, this idea, long conceptual, could finally coalesce — especially since it is precisely what he was working toward at the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa over the past decade.
The African Development Bank, with its pan-African mandate and strong credit rating, is uniquely positioned to coordinate projects involving emerging powers, including the BRICS nations and partners in the GCC. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are both long-standing members of the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund, the latter being a critical source of concessional finance, administered by the African Development Bank, for the continent's poorest countries. The UAE is also a donor to the African Development Fund.
South-South cooperation is critical. Earlier this year, the new US administration proposed cutting $555 million from its contribution to the African Development Fund. In his new capacity, Tah will be charged with raising capital from myriad sources beyond African member states, including a fresh appeal to the US and shareholders and donors including the BRICS, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, all in exchange for greater influence.
GCC countries may find renewed incentives to deepen their engagement. Beyond capital, these nations bring project management capabilities, climate adaptation technologies and a strategic interest in economic diversification that aligns with Africa's own transformation goals. This could become the moment for GCC countries to expand both their soft power and impact across the continent.
Tah's development priorities have consistently emphasized access to energy, climate resilience, youth employment and gender inclusion. These are not abstract policy goals — they are preconditions for the economic transformation of the continent.
This could be the moment for GCC countries to expand both their soft power and impact across the continent.
Matthew Miller
A case in point is youth employment: almost 70 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under the age of 30. That represents both a significant challenge and an opportunity. Without strategic investments in education, skills development and job creation, this demographic wave could overwhelm already-strained labor markets. But with the right policies, Africa could harness this youth bulge to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and inclusive growth.
Tah's call for better land transport corridors and logistics infrastructure to support the African Continental Free Trade Area also reflects a strategic enabler for intracontinental growth and ambitious infrastructure projects. One example is the Egypt-Saudi Arabia causeway linking Africa and Asia that would certainly contribute to the realization of greater and more sustainable growth for Africa, as well as Saudi Arabia and the GCC.
Africa's development financing challenges are vast and urgent, with a widening gap, and GCC-Africa relations have historically lacked institutional depth. Moreover, while South-South partnerships offer potential to close the gap, they are largely based around geopolitical calculations rather than the opportunity to create partnerships that are win-win.
From a GCC perspective, this moment of transition for the African Development Bank presents a unique opportunity for its decision-makers to take a greater global leadership role and enhance their influence not only through development finance, but also through investment and economic transformation benefiting both donors and recipients alike.