Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group, has reported that Africa witnessed a decline in GDP growth of 2.1% in 2020, its lowest in twenty years.
Africa’s GDP fell by $165 billion and over 30 million jobs were lost and over 26 million people fell into extreme poverty.
He spoke on Development and Integration at the Twenty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa.
He commended the leadership efforts of the African Union, and our Heads of State and Government, for the critical roles they played in dealing with the pandemic and the socio-economic challenges in its wake.
“Today, thanks to these efforts 11% of the population has been fully vaccinated, and another 16% has been partially vaccinated.
However, while developed countries have moved to booster shots, Africa is still struggling with basic shots.
“Your Excellencies, we must learn from this experience. Africa can no longer outsource the security of the lives of its 1.4 billion people to the benevolence of others. We must secure African lives!
“Africa needs $600 million to $1.3 billion to meet its goal of attaining 60% vaccine production by 2040. Investing in health is investing in national security.
“The African Development Bank plans to invest $3 billion to support pharmaceutical and vaccines manufacturing capacity for Africa.
To address the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and support economic recovery, Africa will need some $484 billion over the next 3 years. To eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, the continent will need $414 – $784 billion per year. Africa will need $7-$15 billion a year to deal with climate change.
“The continent will also need between $68 – $108 billion per year to fix the infrastructure financing gap.’’
He said that the African Development Bank, as the premier development financing institution in Africa, has been mobilizing resources to meet this challenge.
“Thanks to your support, the general capital of the Bank was increased in 2019 by 125%, rising from $93 billion to $208 billion, the highest since its establishment in 1964.
These resources have allowed the African Development Bank to scale up support to African economies to tackle the pandemic. The Board of Directors of the Bank approved a Crisis Response Facility of up to $10 Billion.
The Bank also launched a $3 Billion Fight COVID-19 Social Bond on the international capital markets, which was the largest ever US-dollar denominated social bond in world history. The Bank provided $ 27 million as grants to the African Centers for Disease Control.
Over the past six years, the African Development Bank has provided about $39 billion in financing to the continent in support of its High5 priorities to: light up and power Africa; feed Africa; integrate Africa; industrialize Africa; and improve the quality of life of the people of Africa.
“In the past five years, the work of the African Development Bank Group has impacted the lives of 335 million people – fast tracking the move towards achieving the Agenda 2063 goals. Close to 21 million people have gained access to electricity.
Nearly 76 million people have benefitted from agricultural technologies for food security and more than 12 million people have gained access to finance through private sector investee companies.
“Over 69 million people have been provided with improved transport. And 50 million people have gained access to improved water and sanitation.’’
