- The African Development Bank Group elected Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah as its new president, succeeding Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina
- Tah defeated four other candidates who vied for the AfDB’s top job
- The AfDB said Tah brings over 35 years of experience in African and international finance, having served in top positions in local and multilateral institutions
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has elected Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah as its new president.
According to a statement from the AfDB, Tah was elected at the bank’s annual meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on Thursday, May 29.
The AfDB stated that Tah was elected by the Bank’s board of governors, which comprises finance and economy ministers or central bank governors of the AfDB’s 81 regional and non-regional member countries.
“The board is the highest decision-making authority for the Bank Group.
“The results were announced by Niale Kaba, Minister of Planning and Development for Côte d’Ivoire, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Bank Group.
“The winning candidate is required to obtain at least 50.01 per cent of both the regional and non-regional votes,” the AfDB stated.
Tah, who will assume office as the Bank’s ninth president on September 1, 2025, will succeed Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina, who has led the AfDB for 10 years.
Tah defeated four other contenders
The newly elected president of the AfDB defeated four other candidates vying for the AfDB’s top job.
They include Amadou Hott of Senegal, Samuel Maimbo of Zambia, Mahamat Abbas Tolli of Chad, and Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala of South Africa.
The AfDB said the Board of Governors’ Steering Committee received and approved a total of five candidates by the closing date of January 31 and officially announced the list of candidates on February 21.
Meet AfDB’s newly elected president
Tah was born in Mederdra, Mauritania, in 1964 and holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, France.
Additionally, he received executive training at Harvard University and the London Business School.
The AfDB said Tah brings over 35 years of experience in African and international finance, having served in top positions in local and multilateral institutions.
“He served as president of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) for 10 years from 2015, where he led a full transformation that quadrupled the Bank’s balance sheet, secured an AAA rating, and positioned it among the top-rated development banks focused on Africa.
“Tah was also a former Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of Mauritania,” the AfDB stated.
It added that Tah has held senior roles in multilateral institutions and has led crisis response, financial reform, and innovative resource mobilisation for Africa, including the establishment of BADEA’s $1 billion callable capital programme for African multilateral development banks (MDBs).
During his campaign, Tah said his tenure will focus on mobilising private capital, integrating the informal sector into the formal economy, and improving Africa’s infrastructure to boost growth.
He also pledged to deepen partnerships with the private sector and enhance the Bank’s response to climate change.
AfDB President Adesina urges investment in African youth over freebies
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, stated that young people in Nigeria and across 51 other African nations do not require handouts in the name of empowerment programmes, but rather access to capital to transform their ideas into sustainable wealth.
Speaking during an interview aired on Sunrise Daily, a morning programme on Channels Television, on Thursday, April 10, Dr Adesina described the ongoing emigration trend among Nigerian youth — commonly referred to as the “japa” syndrome — as a significant loss to the country.
