The President of the African Development Bank Group, Sidi Ould Tah, used his first African Union Summit appearance to announce a strategic pivot toward Africa-led financing. This shift is supported by a record replenishment of the Bank’s concessional resources and a new framework aimed at reducing the continent’s reliance on external aid. Tah presented a strategic agenda built around the Bank’s “Four Cardinal Points,” a roadmap focusing on closing Africa’s financing gap, strengthening financial sovereignty, unlocking the demographic dividend, and accelerating infrastructure development through local value addition. Central to this agenda is the New African Financial Architecture (NAFA), which seeks to mobilize domestic and regional capital, deepen financial markets, leverage pension and sovereign funds, and enhance coordination among development finance institutions in response to tightening global aid flows and rising geopolitical risks.
The strategy is backed by a landmark $11 billion replenishment of the African Development Fund, agreed in December, marking a 23 percent increase from the previous cycle. Twenty-four African countries participated in the replenishment, with nineteen contributing for the first time, signaling a growing commitment to collective self-financing. This demonstrates a regional shift toward stronger domestic ownership of development priorities.
For Ethiopia, the AfDB’s approach has immediate implications. The Bank has committed $500 million to support the development of Bishoftu International Airport, one of the country’s largest planned infrastructure projects. In addition, it has expanded its role in financial sector development by launching its first Capital Markets Development Trust Fund intervention outside West Africa, aimed at supporting Ethiopia’s securities exchange and strengthening regulatory capacity.
Officials highlight that combining large-scale infrastructure financing with targeted capital market support is intended to align development lending with long-term economic transformation rather than short-term budgetary relief. Tah’s engagements at the AU Summit reflect the Bank’s broader goal of positioning itself as a catalyst for mobilizing African savings instead of substituting for them, addressing the growing need for internally funded growth while maintaining debt sustainability.
As the summit discussions continue, the AfDB’s proposals are expected to influence broader debates on how African countries can finance development in an increasingly fragmented global economic landscape.
