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AfDB to provide $500m for women in 2022
By Ibrahim Adeleke
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said the bank would lend $500 million to women in 2022.
He also informed that the bank’s Affirmative Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) is raising the sum of $5 billion with the support of the French President, Emmanuel Macron and G-7.
This disclosure is contained in a statement posted on Sunday, May 22, 2022, by Adesina on his official Twitter account, where he also added that the bank paid out $483 million to financial institutions to lend to women businesses in 2021.
Adesina, whose statement is coming as the bank commences its Annual Meetings for 2022, is commending the Board of Governors, Board of Directors, management and all the hardworking staff of the bank for all their relentless work.
He also thanked all the bank’s 81 shareholder countries for their incredible confidence and support.
Adesina in his remark said: “Our rapid COVID-19 response facility helped towards stabilising African economies. It trained 130,000 health workers. It provided social protection for about 30 million vulnerable households. It provided advisory support for 300,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
“To tackle food crisis from Russia-Ukraine crisis, our board of directors approved last week a $1.5 billion Africa Emergency Food Production Facility, to support 20 million farmers to produce 38 million metric tonnes of food. The bank partnered globally. We delivered.
“To help Africa adapt to climate change, the bank is partnering globally. Together with Global Centre for Adaptation, with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, we are mobilizing $25 billion in support of Africa.
“With the support of President Emmanuel Macron and G-7, our Affirmative Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) is raising $5 billion for women businesses. In 2021, we paid out $483 million to financial institutions to lend to women businesses. We will lend $500 million for women in 2022.’’
The AfDB boss said the board had approved a crisis response facility of up to $10 billion based on rigorous risk assessments when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, adding that it launched a $3 billion COVID-19 social bond on the global capital markets, the highest ever US dollar-denominated social bond in world history.
He said: “The African Development Bank was ranked by Global Finance as the Best multilateral financial institution in the world in 2021. The African Development Fund was ranked by CGD as second best in the world, ahead of all 28 concessional financing institutions in developed countries.
“We are a AAA-rated financial institution, the only one in Africa. We have consistently maintained our stellar AAA credit ratings by all major global credit rating agencies, who consistently praise our excellent risk management at the bank.
“We have an excellent and robust management and governance system. We deliver great value for our clients in Africa. Over the past six years, through our High five programmes, our work has impacted on 335 million people. We deliver great value.”
