AfDB enhances economic support

…as Covid-19 rages

THE African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has pledged to strengthen support to African countries as they tackle the pandemic’s economic and health impact.

AfDB shareholders have also shown strong support for the continental body’s proposals to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic as Africa faces a third wave of infection amid poor vaccine access.

This emerged from the 56th Annual Meetings of the Bank Group where its president, Akinwumi Adesina proposed an African stability mechanism, modeled on a European one, to act as a firewall against external shocks.

It was at the meetings where Dr Adesina pledged that the Bank would strengthen support to African countries as they tackled the pandemic’s economic and health impacts.

“The Bank will invest heavily in domestic vaccine manufacturing and in Africa’s healthcare system, noting that only 51 percent of public health facilities have basic water and sanitation, and only 31 percent of healthcare facilities have electricity.

“The lives of 1.2 billion people in Africa are at risk… we must give hope to the poor, the vulnerable, by ensuring that every African, regardless of their income level, gets access to quality healthcare, as well as health insurance and social protection,” he said.

Kenneth Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister and Chairperson of the African Development Bank Board of Governors, cautioned at the start of the meetings that Africa risked being left behind as a result of the pandemic.

He said the African Development Bank should take a leading role in the continent’s recovery.

“Staring down the possibility of a lost decade, where its economic trajectory pulls further away from that of the rest of the world.

“Our bank, distinct in its role, has to be at the center of Africa’s build-back through targeted support to tackle Africa’s development challenges and lay the foundation to respond to future challenges,” Ofori-Atta said.