Bolster Africa to resist financial shocks, build climate-resilient economies, say African leaders at African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings

Bolster Africa to resist financial shocks, build climate-resilient economies, say African leaders at African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings

The African Development Bank Group’s (www.AfDB.org) 2023 Annual Meetings officially opened on Tuesday, with a clarion call by African leaders, together with the Bank’s President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, to ramp up financing to meet Africa’s urgent climate action goals.

In his welcome remarks, Adesina drew attention to the vast gap in resources for climate action. He said while Africa’s cumulative climate financing needs had been estimated at $2.7 trillion between 2020 and 2030, climate financing resources were only flowing to Africa in trickles. “Africa receives only 3% of global climate finance, of which 14% is from the private sector, the lowest in the world,” Adesina said.

This year’s Annual Meetings, under the theme “Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa,” bring together the Bank’s Board of Governors representing its 81 shareholder countries, development partners, as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society organisations.

In his opening remarks (https://apo-opa.info/428k7z9), Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said the complex challenges facing countries around the world, and especially those in Africa, needed what he described as creative solutions.

“This requires non-traditional ideas to explore financing options, to contribute to pushing the wheel of much-needed projects, particularly in the fields of addressing