According to N'sele, a number of African countries could save as much $1 billion on a 20-year loan, if they borrow from the African Development Bank, instead of from the Eurobond market, due to preferable lending rates. Delegates were informed of the Bank’s successful issuance of the first-ever NOK social bond sold in Norway and sealed in 2018.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Government of the Swiss Confederation (SECO) and the African Development Bank on Thursday signed two agreements to fund African initiatives on the sidelines of the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings. SECO contributed 3 million Swiss francs to the Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab) for innovative young entrepreneurs and 200,000 Swiss francs to the Urban & Municipal Development Fund for Africa (UMDF), which helps African cities plan and manage urban growth and climate-resilient development by improving governance and basic services.

The African Development Bank and the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), a multi-donor trust fund financed by the Governments of Japan and Austria, today launched the African Agri-Business Engine (AABE) in Malabo.  FAPA provides grants for technical assistance activities in Africa, and is one of the components of the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) initiative hosted at the African Development Bank.

The African Development Bank and its partners on Wednesday launched the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI), designed to aid safety and expansion of digital financial transactions in Africa. The Fund, launched at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Government of Luxembourg, as initial contributors.

Leaders from four African countries on Wednesday shared their vision for an integrated and borderless Africa that would foster economic growth and development. The leaders spoke during a high-level presidential dialogue on day two of the African Development Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings.

African leaders on Wednesday underscored the urgent need to fast-track the continent’s regional integration process in order to accelerate Africa’s economic transformation. The call was made at the opening ceremony of the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, with the theme: “Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity.”

“We need you African bankers and African financial institutions to be actors of this regional development, to invest across borders, to finance trade and investments and make regional integration a reality,” Bank Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Pierre Guislain said at this year’s African Banker Awards in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Central Africa stands to benefit the most from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), data from the African Development Bank shows. Hanan Morsy, Director of Research at the Bank, revealed the findings at the launch of one of the Bank’s flagship reports in Malabo, where the African Development Bank is hosting its Annual Meetings.

“If we get integration right, Africa can develop with dignity and confidence,” African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina told journalists at a press conference to herald the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings, due to open Tuesday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The theme of this year’s meetings is ‘Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity.” Regional integration gained momentum with the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in March 2018 and is now at the threshold of its launch next month.

African and non-regional donors on Tuesday pledged $17 million to replenish the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, an initiative which aims to provide food security and eliminate rural poverty on the continent. The pledges were made at a high-level donor round table convened by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Equatorial Guinea President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, on the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings currently underway in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.