LONDON, United Kingdom, December 18,/APO Group: The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional financing arm of the African Development Bank Group, has secured a record USD 11 billion from 43 Partners for its 17th Replenishment (ADF-17), which is the largest in the Fund’s history, despite severe global fiscal constraints and declining aid budgets.
The outcome represents a 23 percent increase in relation to the previous replenishment and sends a clear signal of confidence in Africa’s development prospects, the African Development Bank Group’s leadership, and a new development model centred on investment, risk-sharing, and scale.
“This is not just a replenishment,” commented the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Sidi Ould Tah. “It is a turning point. In one of the most difficult global environments for development finance, our partners chose ambition over retrenchment, and investment over inertia.”
Africa steps forward as a co-investor in its own future
For the first time in the Fund’s history, 23 African countries have made unprecedented contributions to their own concessional financing window.
A total of USD 182.7 million was pledged by African countries, with 19 countries contributing for the first time, alongside long-standing regional contributors. This represents a fivefold increase compared to the previous replenishment.
“This is not symbolic,” Dr Ould Tah said. “This is transformational. Africa is no longer only a beneficiary of concessional finance. Africa is a co-investor in its own future.”
From aid to investment: a new financial era for concessional finance
ADF-17 marks a structural shift in how concessional resources will be used. Partners endorsed a new financial model that allows the African Development Fund to:
- Leverage its balance sheet, including through a Market Borrowing Option to be operationalised during this cycle;
- Deploy innovative instruments, including hybrid capital;
- Use concessional finance strategically to absorb risk, crowd in private capital, and catalyse investment at scale.
Each dollar invested through the Fund already unlocks more than USD 2.50 in co-financing and private capital, a ratio expected to increase further under the new model.
“This allows concessional finance to do what it must do best,” Dr Ould Tah further said: “Absorb risk, unlock private investment, and accelerate development at scale.”
New generation of large-scale partnerships
ADF-17 also anchors, for the first time, large-scale concessional co-financing partnerships alongside the Fund.
Development finance partners announced major commitments, including:
- Up to USD 800 million from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA);
- Up to USD 2 billion from the OPEC Fund for International Development.
These partnerships signal the launch of a new generation of scaled, risk-sharing collaboration, significantly strengthening the Fund’s ability to deliver transformational projects in the most challenging environments.
Delivering impact where it matters most
Resources mobilised under ADF-17 will support 37 low-income and fragile African countries, with a focus on: Expanding access to energy, Strengthening food systems and food security, Investing in human capital, Advancing regional integration and trade, Building resilient infrastructure.
A global signal of confidence
Co-hosted by the United Kingdom and Ghana, the London pledging session concluded a year-long replenishment process conducted amid exceptional global uncertainty.
The United Kingdom’s Minister of State for International Development and Africa, Baroness Jenny Chapman, said: “The UK is proud to co-host the 17th replenishment of the African Development Fund alongside the Republic of Ghana. We have a long-standing partnership with the African Development Bank and support it in driving sustainable and inclusive growth on the continent – for the benefit of the UK and our African partners.”
While Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Amprem, said, “The African Development Fund is a strategic instrument of the African Development Bank Group to reduce vulnerability on the continent.”
