Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has said that Africa will need 56 million new homes to close the housing gap on the continent.
Adesina, who noted that challenges are not unique to Africa, emphasised that the continent has various investment opportunities that the world needs to see.
This, according to him, made it crucial for the launch of the Africa Investment From (AIF) to showcase these opportunities and attract investments, as the forum brings together financial ecosystems from Africa, Europe, America, and Asia.
The AfDB president said that in agriculture, 65 percent of the world’s remaining arable land is in Africa, with a young population of 477 million people under the age of 35, who will be tomorrow’s workforce. He remarked that while the world transitions toward an aging population, Africa grows younger.
“Africa is the world’s fastest-organizing region. Housing demand will surge – approximately 56 million new homes need to be built, representing a significant market opportunity.
“Moreover, global energy transitions highlight Africa’s crucial role, with its essential minerals from platinum to lithium, cobalt to copper, graphite to platinum group metals, etc. All this indicates that if the world doesn’t know how to engage with Africa, capital won’t flow to our continent.”
The AfDB leader, who has built countless bridges between Africa and Europe, America, and Asia, shared these insights on his legacy, global challenges, multilateralism, private sector development, and more in an exclusive interview published on AfDB website, even as he enters his final months at the helm of Africa’s leading financial institution after a decade of service.
On what kind of institution his successor will inherit this May, Adesina stated that while the bank turns 60 this year, he is 64. He further explained that when it was established in 1964 when the bank had just 10 employees, but it now has over 2,000 staff.
He narrated that with an initial capital of $250 million, the AfDB’s capital base stood at $93 billion when he took over office in 2015. He however stated that under his stewardship, working hand in hand with shareholders, the bank tripled the figure to $318 billion.
Read also: AfDB to make $30m equity investment in Africa Finance Corporation
“The numbers tell their own story. We’ve become a truly global institution. Two years ago, we were recognized as the world’s premier multilateral financial institution. For two consecutive years, we’ve been hailed as the most transparent financial institution globally. This is the foundation I wish to leave for my successor. I’ve been fortunate to build upon the work of my predecessors, shaping the Bank into what it is today. But there’s still more ground to cover,” he said.
Speaking on the bank’s role in global multilateralism, the AfDB leader said the development bank has significantly amplified Africa’s voice in the global financial landscape. “I am regularly invited to G20 Compact meetings with African heads of state – I was recently at the Rio de Janeiro summit. Africa’s voice is now heard at the negotiating table. More importantly, Africa’s priorities and solutions are part of global discussions. This is a transformed African Development Bank.”
He further said that the bank is leading initiatives like Mission 300, developed with the World Bank, aiming to connect 300 million people to electricity. Adesina highlighted that throughout his nearly 10-year tenure, his focus has been on accelerating development — evolving into a bank that provides solutions to Africa’s development challenges.
The AfDB mobilised $35 billion in 2023, compared to $29 billion in 2024. Explaining the declining difference, he said it is similar to how the economy functions – years vary.
“The 2024 saw global inflation and geopolitical tensions. Due to restrictive monetary policies in Europe and the U.S. Federal Reserve, interest rates rose significantly. Capital fled emerging markets, with investments concentrating in U.S. and European treasury bonds. Despite this, we managed to reverse the trend and attract substantial investments in a very challenging global environment. That’s no small achievement,” Adesina said.
With the AfDB’s new ten-year strategy (2024-2033) which emphasises collaboration with African and international private sectors, Adesina stressed that public money alone cannot address Africa’s challenges.
He said that the AfDB believes the private sector must play a crucial role, underscoring why the bank is tripling its financing to the strategy by creating Africa 50, a private equity platform focusing on infrastructure, with $1 billion in capital and an $8 billion investment portfolio.
The AfDB, according to him, has also launched the Green Infrastructure Alliance, which will mobilise $10 billion for green infrastructure development.
At the last AfDB annual meetings, Adesina had told several heads of state that “any company working in Africa and drawing from African resources must pay taxes in Africa.”
He said the comment followed his worries that despite its abundant natural resources, Africa doesn’t benefit as it should because many multinational companies don’t pay their due taxes or royalties. He accused them of engaging in profit shifting and illicit capital flows leaving Africa, thereby leaving countries with assets impoverished rather than enriching them.
“When a company operates anywhere in the world, whether in Europe or the United States, it pays taxes there. Why shouldn’t they pay taxes in Africa? To reverse this trend, we first supported reforming the global corporate tax structure to have uniform rules applicable to all countries and proportionate tax payments to resource exploitation.
“Currently, African heads of state strongly advocate the need to reform the global tax regime to ensure they can benefit from their assets. Secondly, more proactively, the AfDB has the “African Legal Support Facility,” essentially composed of lawyers whom we make available to countries to help review their tax situation, debt, etc.”
On whether Africa should end tax incentives, Adesina said: “I’m not saying we shouldn’t offer incentives. But tax incentives are like sugar – too much leads to diabetes. Giving too many incentives is like giving investors too much sugar. States that go down this path lack fiscal space, which is harmful to their economy.”
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