11-Nov-2011 - The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group today approved a USD 71.1- million loan from African Development Fund’s resources to finance the Lom-Pangar Hydroelectric project in Cameroon. The project estimated to cost USD 419.2 million is jointly financed by five donors including the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Development Bank of Central African States and the French Development Agency.
11-Nov-2011 - Enhanced linkage of regional markets, support to regional research and training centers, capacity building, as well as regional transport infrastructure are among key provisions of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) newly approved strategy, which is designed to strengthen regional integration in West Africa.
11-Nov-2011 - In the context of an enhanced Bank engagement in Fragile States, Management initiated a discussion with the Board of Directors last week to shed light on effective strategic direction, improved operational processes and tools to address fragility in conflict affected countries.
06-Nov-2011 - The African Development Bank (AfDB) lent a strong voice to the international dialogue on health and development at the recent launch of the Rotterdam Global Health Initiative. The forum, whose theme was "World Health Stage: Imagining Global Health Anew," brought together renowned health and development professionals from around the world, interested in promoting new ways of thinking through global health challenges and finding new solutions to the gaps that still exist in health and health care.
04-Nov-2011 - G20 leaders today welcomed the recommendations of the High-Level Panel for Infrastructure Development, endorsing the development of the Sokoni Africa Infrastructure Marketplace.
02-Nov-2011 - Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the adverse effects of climate change, and urgently needs to deal with them. But doing so will be costly.
That was the message heard at a session at the international climate change conference, COP 17, currently underway in Durban.
The cost of adapting to the harm being done to the African continent such as severe weather changes, drought, desertification and so on could be as much as USD 20 to 30 billion a year, according to an economist.
02-Nov-2011 - La Banque africaine de développement (BAD) et la conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement (CNUCED) ont exprimé fermement leur volonté de dynamiser le développement grâce aux énergies renouvelables lors du lancement à Tunis du nouveau rapport 2011 sur la technologie et l’innovation.
01-Nov-2011 - As part of an ongoing effort to prepare Africa's negotiating position at the December UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP17) in Durban, South Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) sent a delegation led by its Quality Assurance and Results Department and Climate Change Coordinating Committee to the UN Climate Change Conference in Panama City, Panama from 1 to 7 October 2011.
01-Nov-2011 - Between 17 and19 October 2011, the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev Africa) Programme—a joint initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa—held its first annual stakeholder forum on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-I). The conference theme, “Development First: Addressing Climate Change in Africa,” reflected the need for integrating development and climate policies and emphasized the importance of African ownership of policy formulation...
01-Nov-2011 - In a continuous effort to explore creative financing options to develop Africa’s green economy, African Development Bank (AfDB) staff members attended training on environmental fiscal reform (EFR) between 4 and 6 October in Tunis, Tunisia. EFR refers to a range of taxation and pricing measures that governments can use to raise fiscal revenues while furthering environmental goals.
01-Nov-2011 - Commodity price volatility has detrimental effect on the public finances of developing countries, according to research conducted by two lecturers at the University of Auvergne in France.
In a paper presented at the sixth African Economic Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Hélène Ehrhart and Samuel Guérineau said developing economies must devise ways of reducing commodities price volatility, and their detrimental impact on sustainable growth.
01-Nov-2011 - On 2 November 2011, the governing bodies of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) approved updates to Morocco’s investment plan under the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and a project that will finance Morocco’s ambitious Wind Energy Plan through the implementation of wind/hydro hybrid generating systems that will increase capacity by 1,070 MW and the expansion of rural electrification to 79,436 households in 24 of Morocco’s most isolated and vulnerable districts.
01-Nov-2011 - “The multi-billion dollar financing gap in Africa’s energy sector, coupled with the continent’s abundant untapped natural resources, creates an opportunity to attract private investment, accelerate growth, and embark on a sustainable and lower carbon growth path.” This was the message Hela Cheikhrouhou, director of the AfDB’s Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department, gave to two high-level conferences in Scandinavia in October 2011.
01-Nov-2011 - More than 30 African Development Bank (AfDB) task managers, as well as environment and climate change specialists, attended a two-day workshop on the AfDB’s new Climate Safeguards System (CSS) from 11 to 13 October 2011 in Tunis, Tunisia to learn how CSS can support project teams in their efforts to mainstream climate risks into the AfDB’s operations. The first day of the training offered an overview of the CSS climate screening process, which helps project teams assess their project’s climate vulnerability and define adaptation measures and...
01-Nov-2011 - African countries should continue focusing on improving business climate to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), according to views expressed by experts at the Sixth African Economic Conference held from 25-28 October 2011 in Addis Ababa.
The experts said that while the presence of natural resources remains a key FDI driver to Africa, investment climate variables such as economic, political and policy options matter as well in attracting investment.
31-Oct-2011 - African states came closer to finalizing a continental programme for the development of vital infrastructure as talks ended in Morocco at the weekend.
North African countries agreed on priority projects at the last round of regional consultations by the promoters of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) in Rabat, Morocco.
PIDA is an initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission and the
31-Oct-2011 - Loan syndication will have a higher profile in the lending strategy of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Tim Turner, director of the AfDB’s private sector department, said: “Active resource mobilization through loan syndication needs to be an institutional priority of AfDB, and it is important that the Bank begins to act now.”
28-Oct-2011 - La croissance démographique a une influence avérée sur la disponibilité alimentaire en Afrique. Cet impact peut être d’autant plus préjudiciable que la population de l’Afrique va atteindre le chiffre de 2 milliards d’individus en 2050. C’est ce qu’a souligné, le 28 octobre à Addis-Abeba, Kevin Thomas, maître de conférence à l’Université de Pennsylvanie.
28-Oct-2011 - Vulnerable households cope with difficult times in ways that have adverse consequences on human development, according to a study presented at the “Household Wellbeing and Food Prices” session of the sixth African Economic Conference, which ended in Addis Ababa on Friday.