Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has described as ‘inaccurate and not fact-based’ reports credited to World Bank President, David Malpass, that some multilateral development banks, including it, have a tendency to lend too quickly and, in the process, add to the continent’s debt problems.
The continental lender, which frowned at the statement, said “we are of the view that the World Bank could have explored other available platforms to discuss debt concerns among multilateral development banks”.
It added: “The general statement by the President of the World Bank Group insinuating that the African Development Bank contributes to Africa’s debt problem and that it has lower standards of lending is simply put: misleading and inaccurate”.
In a press statement, the AfDB said “This statement is inaccurate and not fact based. It impugns the integrity of the African Development Bank, undermines our governance systems, and incorrectly insinuates that we operate under different standards from the World Bank. The very notion goes against the spirit of multilateralism and our collaborative work”.
It explained that for the record, the African Development Bank maintains a very high global standard of transparency, adding that in the 2018 Publish What You Fund report, “our institution was ranked the 4th most transparent institution, globally”.
“The African Development Bank provides a strong governance programme for our regional member countries that focuses on public financial management, better and transparent natural resources management, sustainable and transparent debt management and domestic resource mobilization.
“We have spearheaded the issuance of local currency financing to several countries to mitigate the impacts of foreign exchange risks, while supporting countries to improve tax collection and tax administration, and leveraging pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to direct more monies into financing development programmes, especially infrastructure.”
It stated that the African Development Bank’s Africa Legal Support Facility (ALSF) supports countries to negotiate terms of their royalties and taxes to international companies, and terms of their non-concessional loans to some bilateral financiers, stressing that “we have been highly successful in doing so”.
Giving more details, it said “These are the facts: The World Bank, with a more substantial balance sheet, has significantly larger operations in Africa than the African Development Bank. The World Bank’s operations approved for Africa in the 2018 fiscal year amounted to US $20.2 billion, compared to US $10.1 billion by the African Development Bank.