AfDB President, Adesina pledges Support for Tinubu’s Vision for Nigerian Economy

The President of the African Development Bank, (AfDB),Dr. Akinwumi Adesina , said he is impressed with the bold and sound policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Nigeria’s economy.

Adesina, who met with President Tinubu at the just concluded Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, France, also said that the AfDB will strongly support Tinubu’s vision for Nigerian economy.

The AfDB boss said in his verified tweeter handle @akin_adesina, “I had a great meeting with President Tinubu during the new global finance pact summit in Paris. I was impressed by his bold &sound policies for Nigeria’s economy. The African Development Bank will strongly support his vision for Nigerian economy.”

Speaking during a panel session at the Summit For a New Global Financing Pact (link is external) in Paris, Adesina highlighted the case for multilateral development banks (MDBs) to be allowed to leverage International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights.

According to him, with an increased allocation, MDBs could crowd in much-needed resources for developing nations to fight climate change and fast-track the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Adesina added that MDBs could leverage an allocation of $ 200 billion, and turn this into a trillion dollars.

Adesina said: “The MDBs are leveraging machines. They can leverage the SDR’s by three to four times. So that leverage is very important to have.”

The African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have been advocating the re-channeling of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) issued by the International Monetary Fund to multilateral development banks. With the re-allocation, the African Development Bank can provide greater financing to regional and national development banks across Africa, as part of the Finance in Common, to accelerate achievement of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Adesina affirmed that the proposal which the African Development Bank is working on with the IMF would be complementary to the Fund’s efforts.

On her part, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, who spoke on the same panel, announced that her institution had reached its target of making $100 billion in special drawing rights available for vulnerable countries.

“We have reached $100 billion on lending of SDRs. That was our target from 2021. We have achieved that target, and US$ 60 billion of [this is] already in the Fund working for countries,” Georgieva added.