Maravi

Increase in general capital will strengthen bank’s capacity - AfDB

Increase in general capital will strengthen bank’s capacity - AfDB
By Kabanda Chulu
Thu 27 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

AFRICAN Development Bank (AfDB) vice-president for finance Thierry De Longuemar yesterday said the increase in general capital will strengthen the bank’s capacity to fulfil its development mandate and meet the level of future demands.

Releasing the financial statements for the past year ahead of the 2010 annual meeting that begins today in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, De Longuemar stated that apart from retaining its AAA ratings in 2009, the bank achieved an increased pricing on its US $1 billion three-year global bond.

“The AfDB continued its strong run in the dollar market and its bond attracted demand of US $1.44 billion and with 75 per cent of orders from central banks, and the book was closed ahead of schedule to avoid allocation problems,” De Longuemar stated.

“And the bank’s risk bearing capacity remains sound and that the increase in general capital will strengthen the bank’s capacity to fulfill its development mandate and meet the level of future demands.”

He stated that the AfDB approved US $6 billion for the provision of modern and affordable infrastructure in regional member countries in 2009.

“This amount represents 52 per cent of the approvals by the institution during the year and the key infrastructure projects approved in 2009 included airport projects in Morocco and Tunisia, national road projects in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda,” stated De Longuemar.

“The others are multinational road projects connecting Cameroon - Nigeria, Cameroon - Gabon, Kenya -Ethiopia and Mozambique –Malawi - Zambia and the bank also approved power projects in Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia and water sector projects in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt.”

On regional integration, the Bank committed US $685 million which covered projects in regional infrastructure development and institutional capacity building, close collaboration with the African Union, Economic Commission for Africa , African Peer Review Mechanism, Budget review and public procurement.

Labels: AfDB, THIERRY DE LONGUEMAR

posted by MrK @ 2:46 PM