Mauritanian Sidi  Ould Tah Elected President of the AfDB. 

Abidjan - The Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) comprising Ministers of Finance or their alternates of the 81 member states of the AfDB has just elected Mr. Sidi Ould Tah, a former Finance Minister of Mauritania and current President of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), as the new President for the AfDB for a 5-year term starting September 1, 2025. Mr. Tah replaces Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, a Nigerian, who served the bank as President for two terms beginning in September 2015.

 

Under Mr. Tah's leadership of BADEA, the Arab bank has been supportive of Liberia's development helping to finance the RIA runway refurbishment project in 2016 and the Gbarnga-Salayea leg of the Gbarnga-Mendikorma highway project.

 

Mr. Tah was one of the heads of the Arab Coordination Group, comprising the Kuwaiti Fund, the Saudi Fund, BADEA, and others, that committed to finance the Salayea-Voinjama leg of the Gbarnga-Mendikorma Highway during our engagement in Washington DC on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meeting held in late April 2025.

 

 We extend tons of congratulations to Mr. Tah on his election as President of the AfDB and look forward to increased mutually beneficial partnerships between the AfDB and Liberia during his tenure as President of Africa's premier multilateral development bank.

 

We also congratulate the other four candidates for the AfDB presidency for their demonstrated passion for the development of the continent.