AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina By Jimoh Babatunde The President, African Development Bank Group, AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, has urged U.S...
By Jimoh Babatunde
The President, African Development Bank Group, AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, has urged U.S., African government officials and corporate executives to forge new and sustainable partnerships that would endure beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that an accelerated global health and economic effort is needed to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.
Speaking during a global Corporate Council on Africa, CCA, webinar, Adesina said “One death is one too many” and that “our collective humanity is at stake.”
The CCA is a leading U.S. business association that promotes business and investment between the United States and Africa.
Urging participants to be their brother’s and sister’s keepers, Adesina said there was a compelling need to pay attention to underlying global inequalities, and the impact on rich and poor countries.
Adesina highlighted the Bank’s recent $3 billion “Fight COVID-19” bond, the largest ever US dollar-denominated social bond. The bond, oversubscribed at $4.6 billion, is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The AfDB also launched a $10 billion COVID-19 Response Facility to assist African governments and businesses.
The Bank’s response package includes $5.5 billion earmarked for African governments, $3.1 billion for countries that fall under the Bank’s concessionary African Development Fund and $1.4 billion for the private sector.
Fielding several questions about Africa’s healthcare system, Adesina said the region needs to more than double spending in the sector. He cited the acute shortage of facilities and pharmaceutical companies on the continent as development and investment opportunities.
He noted thst while China is home to 7,000 pharmaceutical companies, and India 11,000, Africa, by contrast, has only 375, even though its population is roughly equal to half of the combined population of both Asian giants.
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Adesina urged multilateral institutions to align and step up their collective efforts with regard to Africa’s debt, manage their ratings, and work together with rating agencies.
He pointed out that while COVID-19 infection rates are relatively low compared to the rest of the world, there is a growing sense of urgency given the acute absence of healthcare infrastructure on the continent.
With an eye on the present crisis and beyond, Adesina called for urgent, new and resilient partnerships that will help leave no one behind.
Corporate Council on Africa President and CEO Florie Liser lauded the African Development Bank’s proactive leadership role in responding to the crisis in Africa.
“The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to erase Africa’s unprecedented growth and economic gains over the last decade,” she said.
The webinar was moderated by Citi Bank’s Peter Sullivan, who said the pandemic was unprecedented in terms of its health, social, economic, and financial impact.
“The crisis has significantly hurt economic activity across multiple sectors, including tourism, transportation and commodities,” buttressing the need for a sustainable partnership that AfDB preached.
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