All Posts in "AfDB"

AfDB, Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, launch $5.9m project to stem illicit financial flows from

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The African Development Bank and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) have officially launched a three-year support project to improve regional coherent and coordinated response to illicit financial flows.

The project will help African stakeholders actively engaged in stemming such flows to improve domestic revenue mobilization in African countries.

The launch of the African Financial Integrity and Accountability Support Project (AFIAP) took place at the African Union headquarters on 7 March. The project aims to improve regional coordination of combating illicit financial flows and the oversight and accountability of public finances, for optimal revenue mobilization and management in African countries. It will support the coordinated implementation of recommendations of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows(link is external) and the implementation of joint strategies and initiatives related to international taxation.

The grant will support CoDA in its role as the secretariat of both the AU High-Level Panel on IFFs, the Joint Secretariat of the Consortium to Stem IFFs from Africa, and the annual African Fiscal Policy Forum. The support will foster a coherent African response to illicit flows, in line with the AU Assembly Special Declaration on IFFs(link is external) passed in January, 2015, and will advance Africa’s continent-wide asset recovery agenda encapsulated in the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR)(link is external) adopted in February 2020. This will be carried out by CoDA, the African Union Commission Departments of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals and Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department, in collaboration with other national, regional and global actors.

The project targets selected African Development Bank member countries, with a particular emphasis on public sector capacities in low-income countries, to reinforce resilience via training, policy research and advocacy activities.

The Bank’s support is in line with the objectives of its Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa (2021 – 2025), its policy and strategic framework and action plan to prevent Illicit Financial Flows in Africa (2017 – 2021, extended to 2023), and “High Five objective that aims to “Improve the quality of life” for the people of Africa. It is consistent with ongoing similar support to regional organisations to stem illicit flows from the African continent..

The ceremony was witnessed by the Bank’s Deputy Director-General for Eastern Africa Regional and Business Delivery Office, Abdul Kamara, and the Executive Director of CoDA / HLP Secretariat, Souad Aden-Osman. Several other officials from the Secretariat, the African Union Commission and the Bank also attended the event.

Abdul expressed satisfaction with the project, noting that it is in line with the High-Level Panel’s mandate to promote a coordinated response of the Bank’s regional member countries in ensuring that policies and practices are mobilized in addressing financial crime, tax avoidance, money laundering. “In addition to combating illicit financial flows, this project will contribute to promoting greater efficiency in public financial management in order to boost revenue mobilization and management,” Kamara said.

“CoDA welcomes this financial support of the AfDB. We are eager to work with the Bank in ensuring Phase II of the implementation of the Panel’s recommendations is well underway. This collaboration with the AfDB is highly useful in this regard and on behalf of its Board of Directors and the High-Level Panel on IFFs from Africa, CoDA is thankful to the President, Management and Board of the AfDB for their continued support”, Aden-Osman said.

Patoma Admin by — March 11, 2023 in Banking & Finance 0
(AfDB), IsDB join forces to boost Africa’s health defense systems through the pharmaceutical industry

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The African Development Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank have signed a joint partnership action plan for the development of the pharmaceutical industry sector within their African member countries.

The plan offers a new framework for strengthened cooperation and mutual development priorities, with a strong emphasis on boosting the continent’s health defense systems.

The aide-memoire was signed on Thursday, at the headquarters of the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by Dr. Abdu Mukhtar, Director of Industrial and Trade Development for the African Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank, Director of the Economic and Social Infrastructure Department, Idrissa Dia.

The signing rounded out two days of presentations and deliberations on the institutions’ health strategies for Africa and the African Development Bank’s Pharmaceutical Action Plan (https://apo-opa.info/3Kdrv6Y). During the sessions, teams from both institutions discussed a joint pipeline of pharmaceutical projects proposed for co-financing, as well as potential collaboration in advocacy and knowledge creation for their member countries.

The Joint Action Plan enables both institutions to grow a shared pipeline of bankable projects around key complementary themes to which each institution would bring their comparative advantage. The plan covers lending to public and private sector projects and pharmaceutical development projects using a regional approach.

The institutions will also cooperate on the organization of a global Pharmaceutical Business Forum in May 2023 at the General Annual Meetings of the African

Development Bank. The event will bring together key pharmaceutical sector industry captains, including big pharma companies, continental, regional and governmental regulatory agencies, technology transfer entities. The gathering will deliberate on business opportunities, vaccine off-take agreements, pharmaceutical technology transfer agreements and project preparation resources, among other topics.

“The African Development Bank Group places considerable importance on partnerships in its contributions to sustainable development in Africa. Through partnership we can go further, we can increase development effectiveness, we can leverage our complementarities and harness our synergies,” said Solomon Quaynor, Vice President of Infrastructure, Private Sector and Industrialization.

In addition to defining a joint action plan, Anasse Aissami, IsDB Director General, Country Programs, encouraged the participants to expedite implementation of the respective pharmaceutical programs with focus on increasing local production and regulatory support. Amer Bukvic,

Acting Director General, Global Practices and Partnerships, seconded his remarks, adding that: “we will solidly establish and operationalize the health and pharmaceutical collaboration, and we will work hard to enhance the technical cooperation”.

In 2017, heads of the two institutions signed a co-financing Memorandum of Understanding to scale up co-financing activities over the period 2018-2020. A sum of $2 billion was earmarked for co-financing, equally split between the two institutions. The MoU was extended to December 2023 in order to intensify co-financing across strategic sectors such as infrastructure development; human development; private sector development and investment promotion.

“There is room to extend our partnership under the umbrella of the existing MoU to our priority sectors,” Desire Vencatachellum, Director, Financial Mobilization and Partnerships for the African Development Bank noted during the meetings.

Following the signing, Dia, highlighted the need to increase cooperation across all human development sectors and initiatives, given the strong strategic and operational alignment between the IsDB and the African Development Bank across the health, pharmaceutical, education, water and sanitation sectors.

The African Development Bank’s Pharmaceutical Action Plan is well aligned with IsDB’s strategy in the pharma sector. We will work collaboratively and with other partners to achieve results in this sector, which is critical to Africa’s development,” Mukhtar said.

Dr. Ammar Abdo, Human Development Manager indicated that the IsDB-AfDB health industrialization initiative is a deep dive exercise between the two sisters’ institutions on strategic and operational health matters.”

Also present, Martha Phiri, Director of Human Development Department noted the alignment of the Health Infrastructure Strategy of the African Development Bank with IsDB’s plans. “The respective health teams will explore a joint pipeline in line with this pharmaceutical collaboration pipeline,” she said.

The teams will continue to meet monthly to review progress and share insights on proposed common projects. They also announced that they would hold a review meeting before December 2023 to assess the progress of sovereign and non-sovereign projects.

Patoma Admin by — February 19, 2023 in Banking & Finance 0
AfDB, Canadian Govt set special for medium side, SMEs

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

African Development Bank Group and the Government of Canada have established a new special fund to support Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agriculture sector.

The Agri-food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism aims to catalyze and de-risk investment for agriculture SMEs, as well as strengthen agricultural value chains and improve food security across the continent. The two organisations made the announcement at a press event on 27 January held during the Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit.

“At the Africa Food Summit, we have seen a strong commitment to addressing the financing gap for SMEs and creating an environment that encourages private sector investments in climate-smart, gender-oriented agricultural solutions,” Dr. Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development told reporters. “The Agri-food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism will help unlock opportunities for these businesses in Africa, particularly for women and youth,” she said.

Canada contributed CAD 100 million ($73.5 million) to fund the mechanism, which is hosted by the African Development Bank. Small and medium agri-businesses produce, process or transport around 65% of Africa’s food, yet they face a financing gap of more than $180 million annually.

The mechanism will provide concessional finance and technical assistance to financial intermediaries including agribusinesses, micro-finance institutions and impact funds. The finance and assistance aim to enable the intermediaries to make loans to agri-SMEs working with women, and businesses that build resilience to climate change.

The Agri-food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism will add to the Bank Group Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa’s (AFAWA) goal of closing the $42 billion access to finance gap for women-led SMEs and to accelerate their growth.

The Mechanism represents the Bank’s first blended financing facility to specifically target SMEs operating across the agricultural value chain. It mobilizes public funds to de-risk agricultural financing, crowds in support to make SMEs more bankable, and collaborates with providers of capital to make banks more ‘agriculture-friendly’.

“The best way to build up food security in Africa is to work with small-and-medium-sized agriculture and food businesses. Through a shared commitment between Canada and the African Development Bank, the Agri-food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism will advance resilient growth and climate adaptation. It will also help African SMEs to pursue climate smart models, and support women by shifting attitudes that perpetuate gender gaps in financial inclusion,” said Anita Vandenbeld,

Parliamentary Secretary to Canada’s Minister of International Development.
Structured as multi-donor trust fund, the Mechanism is open to and welcomes the participation and contribution of other development partners.

By co-financing with the African Development Bank’s financial instruments, the Mechanism will increase the quantum of attractive capital de-risking agri-SMEs and leverage more private sector finance toward impactful agri-food sector investments.

Patoma Admin by — February 2, 2023 in Banking & Finance 0