Treasury minister Njuguna Ndung’u to head AfDB board

Kenya’s Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung’u (left) with Egypt’s Central Bank Governor Hassan Abdalla and AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina during the handover of the presidency ceremony in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt May 26, 2023. PHOTO | AfDB

The Kenyan Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u has taken over the chairmanship of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB), succeeding the Egyptian Hassan Abdalla.

Prof Ndung’u, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for finance and national planning, will chair the multilateral lender’s board for a one-year term, during which time he will host the annual general meeting in Nairobi, scheduled for May next year.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Kenya took the helm at a ceremony in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt on Friday.

The chairmanship of the AfDB, which only lends to African countries, rotates between the member states of Africa’s leading development financier. The Board consists of a governor and a deputy governor who are appointed by each member country and whose voting rights are proportional to their country’s shareholdings.

In his acceptance speech, Prof Ndung’u said Nairobi will support the AfDB’s effort to expand access to finance, especially as alternative sources of finance are drying up globally.

“The need for quality infrastructure to attract private investment in our countries is putting pressure on financing needs in already tight budgets. Therefore, there is a need to innovate in mobilizing resources to fund infrastructure development and increase the return on private investment.”

“The role of development institutions is crucial in pooling and mobilizing the resources needed to mitigate the negative impacts of geopolitical tensions, the Covid-19 pandemic, food security and climate change,” he said.

Read: AfDB commits $1.5 billion to address Africa’s food crisis

African member states hold 60 percent of the AfDB, with the remaining 40 percent owned by the United States, Japan and India, among others. Nigeria is the largest shareholder with around 10 percent.

The higher the stake, the more ballots a country gets when voting.