SIDI Ould Tah wasted no time signalling his urgency after being elected president of the African Development Bank Group on Wednesday, telling governors and media assembled at the institution’s annual meetings: “Let’s go to work now, I’m ready!”
The Mauritanian banking veteran, who will assume leadership of Africa’s premier development finance institution on September 1, inherits what many consider the continent’s most challenging executive role – steering an $85 billion balance sheet to accelerate development across 54 African nations at a time when the continent risks falling behind global development targets.
Tah defeated four other candidates to secure the presidency of the Abidjan-based bank, which serves as the primary multilateral lender for infrastructure, agriculture, and social development projects across Africa. The 81-member Board of Governors, comprising finance ministers and central bank governors from regional and non-regional member countries, elected Tah after he secured the required majority of both regional and non-regional votes.
The incoming president brings a track record of institutional transformation to the role. During his decade-long tenure as president of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa from 2015, Tah quadrupled the institution’s balance sheet, secured a coveted AAA credit rating, and positioned it among the world’s top-rated development banks focused on Africa.
That experience will prove crucial as the AfDB faces mounting pressure to scale up financing for climate adaptation, infrastructure development, and economic diversification across a continent where development needs far outstrip available capital. The bank’s current strategic priorities, known as the “High 5s,” target energy access, agricultural transformation, industrialisation, regional integration, and improving quality of life for Africans.
Tah’s election comes at a pivotal moment for African development finance. Despite the continent’s resilience through recent climate shocks and economic disruption, development experts warn that Africa needs to dramatically accelerate progress to meet the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by their target dates.
The 35-year finance veteran also served as Mauritania’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and held senior positions at other multilateral institutions, giving him extensive experience in crisis response and innovative resource mobilisation – skills that will be essential as the bank navigates an increasingly complex global financial landscape.
Tah will succeed Dr. Akinwumi Adesina of Nigeria, who concludes his second five-year term after a decade of leadership marked by significant balance sheet growth and expanded climate financing initiatives. The transition represents the ninth leadership change since the bank’s establishment in 1964.
The presidential election took place during the bank’s 2025 Annual Meetings in Abidjan, running through Friday under the theme “Making Africa’s Capital Work Better for Africa’s Development” – a mandate that will define Tah’s immediate priorities as he takes control of the continent’s largest development finance institution.
The other candidates in the race included Amadou Hott of Senegal, Samuel Maimbo of Zambia, Mahamat Abbas Tolli of Chad, and Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala of South Africa.
