Latest news with #ValerieDabady
Zawya
11-08-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Briefing Highlights: How the African Development Fund is Financing Africa's Future in a Shifting Global Landscape
The African Development Fund, the African Development Bank Group's ( concessional financing arm, was the focus of a special edition of the African Transformation Briefing co-hosted by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) and the Global Strategic Communications Council. Moderated by ACET Communications Manager Belinda Ayamgha, the session was held virtually on 29 July 2025. The media-focused event convened development partners, journalists, and policymakers for an in-depth conversation on the Fund's role in financing economic transformation across 37 low-income African countries, nearly half of which are classified as fragile states. Valerie Dabady, Manager of Resource Mobilization and Partnerships at the African Development Bank, delivered a keynote presentation outlining the Fund's catalytic impact, financing structure, and evolving strategic direction. She underscored the Fund's ability to channel investments in areas such as climate resilience and regional integration through concessional resources tailored to country-specific needs and highlighted plans to expand its resource base. 'With 37 member countries and over $45 billion in investments since inception, the African Development Fund is a cornerstone of Africa's development financing architecture,' Dabady said. 'As we look toward the future, innovations like market borrowing and expanded donor engagement will be critical to increasing our impact.' The briefing also featured a country perspective from Joseph Chanda, Assistant Director for Economic Management and Planning in Zambia's Ministry of Finance. Chanda highlighted how Zambia is leveraging African Development Fund resources to accelerate infrastructure development, build climate resilience, and deepen regional integration. 'ADF financing has played a transformative role in Zambia,' he noted. 'By allocating just 10% of our national resources to the Lobito Corridor, we were able to leverage over $330 million in regional window co-financing. These are the types of investments that build real economies and regional prosperity.' The Lobito Corridor, a strategic rail and road project connecting Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia, is among the largest regional integration initiatives currently under preparation with support from the African Development Fund. With a $500 million commitment, the Fund is helping to finance and de-risk the project, which is expected to catalyze investment in logistics, agriculture, and mining, particularly in critical minerals vital to the global energy transition. Chanda also referenced the Kazungula Bridge Project, a regional integration initiative co-financed by the Fund with an investment of $68 million. Completed in 2021, the 923-meter-long bridge spans the Zambezi River, connecting Zambia and Botswana and replacing a long-standing ferry service. The project also includes One-Stop Border Posts on both sides of the bridge, significantly streamlining customs procedures and reducing transit times along the North–South Corridor. It supports intra-African trade, enhances regional logistics efficiency, and has become a key node for trade between Southern and Central Africa. Participants raised questions on donor engagement, capital market access, and the future structure of the Fund. Dabady reaffirmed the Bank's ongoing efforts to attract non-traditional partners and finalize approvals that would enable the Fund to access capital markets. 'The ADF has long flown under the radar,' she said. 'But this is a pivotal moment to raise its profile, demonstrate impact, and unlock greater investment for Africa's most pressing priorities.' The session concluded with a call to action from Kerezhi Sebany, Africa Director for Economic Opportunities at the ONE Campaign. 'We must shine a light on the African Development Fund,' she said. 'When people know what the Fund is and what it delivers, it fosters transparency, trust, and partnership. Now is the time to tell the ADF story and tell it boldly.' The African Development Fund is currently undergoing its 17th replenishment cycle (ADF-17). The next consultative meeting with development partner representatives will be held virtually on 18-19 September 2025. This will be followed by a meeting in Lusaka, Zambia in October, where Zambia government representatives will share results and country-level experiences. The final pledging session for ADF-17 is scheduled for December 2025. Watch the briefing: Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Zawya
31-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
AfDB's African Development Fund hopes to start tapping capital markets in 2027
The African Development Bank arm lending to low-income countries will start raising $5bn from capital markets every three years from 2027, a senior bank official said on Tuesday, 29 July 2025 as donor countries such as the US cut support. The Africa Development Fund (ADF) facility has provided $45bn in concessional credit to 37 low-income African countries since it was established in 1972. It counts the United States as its biggest cumulative donor, but President Donald Trump's administration wants to cut $555m in funding. "We have an ambition to go to the capital markets and raise funding, which would help us to diversify the way that we fund ourselves," said Valerie Dabady, AfDB's head of Resource Mobilization and Partnerships, during a briefing. "We believe that we can raise up to $5bn in every three-year cycle. But in order to get there, we have to actually change our charter," she said, adding the process of doing so was already underway. ADF will then seek a credit rating and start undertaking the work of raising funds, following in the footsteps of the broader AfDB, which has issued a range of instruments in international capital markets over the years, Dabady said. The Abidjan-headquartered AfDB is the continent's biggest development bank and it approved a review of ADF's funding mix in December 2022, she said, before the geopolitical shifts that have stoked concerns about attainment of replenishment targets. "It was very prescient and very timely that we should have done this... what it has done, the current geopolitical context, is to give a bit more impetus to what it is we want to do with the market borrowing," Dabady said. The next round of replenishment for the ADF, which is held on a three-year cycle, is scheduled to take place from November, and AfDB had set a target of more than doubling the $8.9bn that was raised in the last round. "We had started off these discussions wanting to reach $25bn, and I think that given the context, that's not something that's going to be possible, given the constrained environment and the like," Dabady said.
