Following a closely watched and highly competitive election, Mauritania’s former finance minister, Sidi Ould Tah, has been appointed as the next president of the African Development Bank (AfDB). His victory, announced on Thursday, came after he secured the backing of more than three-quarters of the bank’s shareholders.
Tah will succeed Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina, who is stepping down after a decade at the helm. He assumes leadership at a critical moment, as the AfDB faces growing financial pressures. According to Bloomberg, U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed a $555 million reduction in funding to the bank’s main development fund—a vital mechanism for financing high-risk projects that typically do not attract private sector investment.
A central priority for Tah will likely be the diversification of the bank’s financial base. Having recently concluded his tenure as president of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, he has expressed a commitment to leveraging his Gulf-region ties to bolster support for the institution.
Tah is scheduled to officially take office on September 1.
The race for the presidency included five high-profile candidates: Mahamat Abbas Tolli of Chad, Amadou Hott of Senegal, Swazi Tshabalala of South Africa, Samuel Munzele Maimbo of Zambia, and Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania. Each candidate spent between 12 and 18 months on extensive campaigns across Africa and beyond, courting both regional and non-regional stakeholders for support.
The election process was heavily influenced by the bank’s shareholding structure, which weights votes according to ownership stakes. As a result, nations such as Nigeria (8.2%), the United States (6.6%), Egypt (5.6%), Japan (5.5%), and South Africa (5.2%) played a decisive role in the outcome.
