AfDB Promises To Leverage Private Sector In Addressing Financial Gaps In Africa

African Development Bank (AfDB) has promised to leverage the private sector to address the various financial gaps on the continent.

The vice-president of economic governance and knowledge management complex at AfDB, Kelvin Urama spoke on the bank’s plans to improve financing in Africa at a virtual pre-annual meetings news conference on Thursday.

The bank’s annual meetings is scheduled to hold from May 22 to May 27, 2023, in Sham El Sheikh, Egypt.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Mobilising Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa’, Urama said the need for financing in the region was very humongous for the public sector financing to meet.

“This year, the bank will focus on how to leverage the private sector to address the financial gaps for achieving the paramount actions and bring good transitions on the continent,” he said.

“To do this, we have structured five different and very interesting knowledge events for the meeting, one of them is the presidential dialogue.

“This will feature our heads of state having a dialogue with the bank’s president on the changing global financial architecture and the role of the multilateral development banks.

“How do we position multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the MDB reforms within the era of trying to mobilise financing more for Africa to reach all the financing gaps we had already highlighted?”

Urama also said there would be an inauguration of the African economic outlook 2023, which would focus on mobilising private sector financing for climate change and green growth in Africa.