Egyptian leader praises African Development Bank for helping continent in troubled times | African Development Bank

The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, praised the African Development Bank Group’s work in helping the continent cope with the impact of global economic challenges.

The Egyptian leader received Tuesday the president of the African Development Bank Group Dr. Akinwumi Adesina in the capital Cairo. Dr. Adesina was accompanied by the bank’s chief economist and vice president, Professor Kevin Urama, and the secretary general, Professor Vincent Nmehielle. Others at the meeting included Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hassan Abdallah, Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability Rami Aboul Naja and Deputy Governor for Foreign Affairs Mannullah Farid.

Adesina was in Egypt to familiarize herself with preparations for the Bank Group’s annual meetings in 2023, scheduled for May 22-26 in the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. Up to 13 Heads of State and Government are expected to participate in the meetings along with the Bank’s Governors, Executive Directors, Development Partners and management to Mobilizing private sector finance for climate and green growth in Africa.

President El-Sisi said Egypt looks forward to continuing and intensifying cooperation with the bank in various development sectors.

The Bank is working closely with Egypt to mobilize international climate finance to address the country’s climate challenges, build the resilience of fragile systems and promote sustainable development. The Just Green Transition (JGT) Initiative has a $14.8 billion pipeline of investment-ready projects to address the water, food and energy nexus.

The African Development Bank was asked to lead the mobilization of funding for the water pillar projects. Dr. Adesina said: “The bank has mobilized $2.3 billion, exceeding its initial target of $1.4 billion.” In addition, the Bank supports water desalination projects in the country.

The head of the African Development Bank Group praised Egypt’s bold efforts to tap private sector financing for green growth initiatives.

The government of Egypt plans to issue a green bond on Chinese capital markets by the end of June this year. The Green Panda bond with a face value of USD 500 million is issued in Chinese renminbi.

Dr. Adesina said, “This will be the first time an African country has issued a bond on China’s capital markets.”

The bank’s board will discuss in the coming months Egypt’s request to provide a $345 million partial credit guarantee to support the bond’s issuance.

The Green Panda Bond will be the latest of several other bonds Egypt has issued since 2020, when it launched its Green Financing Framework.

Adesina also praised Egypt for its commitment to increasing the role of the private sector in the economy.

Egypt started earlier this year to privatize 32 state-owned companies worth $40 billion over the next four years to reduce the public sector’s footprint in the economy and give the private sector more room to grow.

As for additional financial assistance to Egypt in 2023, the bank plans to provide the country with $133 million to deal with the macroeconomic instability caused by the ongoing global deepening crisis. Last year, the Bank provided a $272 million policy-based operation to support Egypt’s efforts to deal with the fallout from the crisis.

From left to right: African Development Bank Secretary General Vincent Nmehielle, Chief Economist and Vice President Kevin Urama, Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Hassan Abdallah, Vice Governor for Foreign Affairs Mannullah Farid and Vice Governor for Monetary Stability Rami Aboul Naja

Quality infrastructure

The bank chief met with South Sinai governorate Major General (Rt) Khaled Fouda on Wednesday, who said the city of Sharm El Sheikh is ready to host more than 2,000 delegates to attend the bank’s annual meetings in will attend in May.

Adesina said the Bank was impressed with the infrastructure and facilities the Egyptian government had set up in Sharm El Sheikh, which successfully hosted COP 27 last year.

“The infrastructure you have developed in Sharm El Sheikh is great. It’s world class. The city is constantly changing, with green growth at the heart of its development. It is an example of how successful funding of municipalities and other sub-national entities can deliver impactful socio-economic development,” said Adesina, “other African countries can learn from Sharm El Sheikh.”

Adesina also met with diplomats representing the Bank’s shareholders and development partners in Egypt. He said the bank is committed to supporting countries across Africa in achieving accelerated development despite the recent economic shocks and geopolitical tensions they face.

“It is a very difficult world to deal with, which is why our role as the African Development Bank is to support the accelerated development of African countries in financing their economic and social development agenda and also in building the resilience of their economies. We are helping African countries deal with the series of shocks – whether it’s climate, whether it’s debt, whether it’s recovery from the Covid-19 situation, or investment in the things they need for structural transformation of their savings,’ Adesina reaffirmed.

Attending the event were Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat; Deputy Under Secretary for Regional Economic Organizations Ebtisam Rakha; the acting governor of Egypt’s central bank, Mr. Hassan Abdallah, who is also the governor for Egypt of the African Development Bank; Dr. Mohamadou Labarang, Ambassador of Cameroon and Dean of African Ambassadors to Egypt; and the bank’s executive director, Nomoto Takaaki.