SADC leaders are backing Zambia’s Samuel Maimbo to take over as President of the African Development Bank, in a battle between key African economic regions to control the key institution.
Maimbo, a World Bank Vice President since last year, won the support of regional leaders at last weekend’s SADC Summit held in Harare.
“The endorsement was made during the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of States and Government in Harare, Zimbabwe on 17 August 2024. Dr. Maimbo was selected through a competitive process among seven candidates from the SADC region,” SADC said in a statement.
AfDB meets in May next year in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to vote on the successor to Akinwumi Adesina, whose ten-year term ends in 2025. Ahead of that vote, Zambia has campaigned for Maimbo. In July, former Zambian VP Enock Kavindele met President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare. Mnangagwa said: “I am meeting my brother here. assured them of our full support for the candidate.”
Maimbo will come up against candidates from other regions. Central African nations are supporting Abbas Mahamat Tolli from Chad, former governor of the Bank of Central African States. Francophone countries believe they should have a turn to lead. Tolli has said “the AfDB has never been led by a president from central Africa”. A president from the region, he said earlier this year, would “be an important part of ensuring that [the bank] is sufficiently representative at the heart of the institution”.
Another potential candidate is Rabah Arezki, a French-Algerian former chief economist of the AfDB, who has the backing of North African economies. Some West African countries support Senegal’s Hassatou Diop N’Sele, AfDB’s current vice president of finance.
The next president will take over at a time when many African economies are facing sluggish growth, and will have influence on bank policy across Africa over the next decade. Real GDP growth is projected to increase to 3.7% in 2024 and firm up at 4.3% in 2025, driven mostly by East African economies.
AfDB’s shareholding is spread among 54 African countries, who control 60% collectively, and 27 non-African countries, holding the remainder. In June, the bank voted to increase its authorised capital from $201 billion to $318 billion. North African economies, especially Morocco and Egypt, dominate AfDB’s loan book, followed by West and East Africa.
