The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 a US $100-million unfunded Risk Participation Agreement (RPA) for FirstRand Bank Limited South Africa (FRB), under which the two banks will share the default risk on a portfolio of trade transactions originated by issuing banks in Africa and confirmed by FRB. This facility will help address critical market demand for trade finance in Africa by working through financial institutions to provide support across vital economic sectors such as industry, services, agribusiness and manufacturing.

Development institutions and power companies responded to a call made by the Union of the Comoros and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to attend a High-Level Consultation, which took place on March 25, 2015 at the AfDB’s headquarters in Abidjan. The meeting shed light on the crisis currently facing the energy sector in Comoros, and on potential solutions to these challenges.

“Let’s join hands to push Africa’s transformation agenda in order to realize the continent’s potential as the world’s new growth pole” – Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, AfDB Special Envoy on Gender

The 18^th Summit of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Authority of Heads of State opened at the Africa Union Commission Headquarters on Monday, March 30, 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, chaired by President Joseph Kabila Kabange of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is also outgoing Chairperson of the COMESA Authority. 

The eight candidates in the running for the election of the next President of the African Development Bank have submitted their vision statements for the Bank and the continent. The vision statements have been published on each candidate’s respective profile page on the African Development Bank website, AfDB.org, and may be accessed by clicking on the name of the candidate in the links provided below.

One year ago, on March 23, 2014, an epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) was declared in West Africa. Beginning in Guinea, EVD quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, taking the lives of over 10,000 people.

Through a US $7.7-million grant provided by the African Development Bank, 115 foreign medical teams (FMTs) composed of doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians from Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal were deployed to the three affected countries to fight the disease.