ContextOpening address at the 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, before several African heads of state.
Why it mattersPresents the new President's plan to make the bank a catalyst for private capital.
- Africa needs far more capital.
- Investment opportunities are scattered.
- Risk deters investors.
- Position the Bank as a catalytic institution.
- Reduce risks and mobilise more capital.
- Strengthen African risk-sharing such as ATIDI.
Read the speech summary
1. Brazzaville and a listening tour
Opening the African Development Bank Group's 2026 annual meetings in Brazzaville, its President thanked the Congolese head of state, praised his decision to lift visa requirements for all Africans from 2027 and highlighted the Congo Basin as one of the planet's major carbon sinks. A year after his election, he said he had spent his first months consulting governments, staff, investors and young entrepreneurs, and heard one message: Africa's ambitions now exceed the financial system meant to support them.
2. Three paradoxes
Africa has about 18% of the world's people, over 30% of its mineral reserves and over 60% of unused farmland, yet only about 3% of world trade and 3-4% of output. It needs more than $400 billion a year for structural change while holding over $4 trillion in domestic savings. Infrastructure alone requires $130-170 billion a year, with a gap of $68-108 billion, despite major openings in energy, logistics, digital networks, food and critical minerals. The issue is converting assets into investment, jobs and influence.
3. A changed world
The pandemic, wars, imported inflation, falling aid and higher interest rates have strained African economies, but the continent has become central to trade routes, energy and minerals. IMF projections show African growth comparable to Asia's, digital tools and the continental free trade area are widening markets, and young entrepreneurs use AI in farming, health and education. Their innovations still struggle to scale because finance has not kept pace.
4. A new financial architecture
Fragmentation means African savings rarely fund African projects; investors buy instruments, not projects. The NAFAD framework backed by the Abidjan Consensus aims to align existing institutions to mobilise savings, reduce perceived risk and deepen capital markets, without adding bureaucracy. He insisted that financial sovereignty is built through stronger markets and coordination rather than declared, and that the bank, created for an era of sovereign loans and aid, must adapt to a world shaped by private capital, technology and regional integration. The bank's strategy follows four priorities: cheaper and larger capital flows, stronger connected financial systems, turning a young population into an economic advantage, especially for youth and women, and building infrastructure and value chains so Africa stops exporting raw materials and importing prosperity.
5. From lender to catalyst
The African Development Fund's 17th replenishment raised a record $11 billion, up 23%, with 24 African countries contributing about $183 million, twenty for the first time. Only one project in ten reaches financial close, so guarantees and risk sharing are key; the bank became the largest shareholder of the regional trade and investment insurance agency ATIDI with 14%. Twelve to fifteen million young people join the labour market each year, and small firms in the missing middle need patient finance, energy and skills. All African financial institutions must work together.
6. Reforming the bank
Seven reform pillars should make the bank faster and simpler, moving from single projects to integrated platforms, and a Portuguese-speaking service hub will be created. He argued that Africa's risks are overestimated and its value underestimated, joking that Africans recycled and shared taxis long before these became fashionable business models.