African Development Fund mobilises $11B for investment-led growth

The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional financing arm of the African Development Bank Group, has secured a record $11 billion from 43 partners for its 17th Replenishment (ADF-17), the largest in the Fund’s history, despite severe global fiscal constraints and declining aid budgets.

The outcome represents a 23% increase over 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,” said Sidi Ould Tah, president of the African Development Bank Group. “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 $182.7 million was pledged by African countries, with 19 countries contributing for the first time, alongside long-standing regional contributors. This represents a five-fold increase compared to the previous replenishment.

“This is not symbolic,” 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 $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,” Ould Tah 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 $800 million from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA);
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Up to $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;
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Strengthening food systems and food security;
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Investing in human capital;

Advancing regional integration and trade;
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Building resilient infrastructure. Targeted support will continue for countries facing fragility and vulnerability, including through the Transition Support Facility.

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.

Baroness Jenny Chapman, the United Kingdom’s Minister of State for International Development and Africa, 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.”

Thomas Nyarko Amprem, Ghana’s deputy minister of finance, said: “The African Development Fund is a strategic instrument of the African Development Bank Group to reduce vulnerability on the continent.”

“The success of ADF-17 confirms strong international confidence in the Fund’s strategic direction and in Africa’s potential to deliver results at scale,” Ould Tah said. “This replenishment goes beyond aid. It is a strategic investment, with measurable returns in stability, growth, trade and global resilience.”

Re-disseminated by Wealth and Society