As Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah prepares to take the helm of the African Development Bank, he inherits a continent squeezed by debt distress, climate volatility, and fraying donor commitments. His legacy at BADEA, fluency in Islamic finance, and focus on fragile states point to a bold new approach — but the early tests will be unforgiving. In an exclusive interview, ONE Campaign’s Africa Executive Director Serah Makka unpacks what Tah’s appointment could mean for fiscal resilience, climate justice, and inclusive growth across the continent.
As Africa’s sovereign debt pressures deepen and concessional flows tighten, the continent’s premier development institution is preparing for a leadership shift. On September 1, Sidi Ould Tah will take office as the ninth president of the African Development Bank, succeeding Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina. A Mauritanian economist and Islamic finance specialist, Tah brings with him a decade of experience at the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), where he expanded the institution’s lending into fragile and underserved states. He steps into the role at a moment of intense fiscal pressure and fractured geopolitics — and with little margin for error.
“This is someone who understands how to operate across fragmented blocs,” says Serah Makka, Africa Executive Director at The ONE Campaign, a global advocacy organisation working to fight poverty and inequality. “His Pan-African vision, deep knowledge of non-interest finance, and demonstrated ability to mobilise capital from Arab and African partners position him as a bridge-builder in an increasingly fragmented world.”
Tah’s experience at BADEA offers clues to his likely direction. During his tenure, the bank increased its capital base by over 350%, built out its presence in post-conflict zones, and pioneered the use of Sharia-compliant blended finance tools. He has also built close ties with Gulf financial institutions — relationships that could prove critical as traditional donors retreat.
Makka believes these credentials make him uniquely placed to address one of the most urgent regional blind spots: development financing for fragile states. “We should expect to see renewed attention – those often underserved by traditional development finance due to risk aversion,” she says. “Tah’s tools, and his comfort operating in non-traditional financing circles, give him an advantage.”
Debt, distortion and institutional nerves
Tah arrives just as the African Development Fund — the concessional window of the Bank — faces its next replenishment cycle. The ADF-17 round aims to raise $11 billion for disbursement across the continent’s lowest-income economies. But with U.S. congressional funding under threat, and donor fatigue setting in, the fundraising task is already behind schedule.
“This will be the first big credibility moment,” Makka says. “The world is closing into itself with development partners contributing less and less to Official Development Assistance (ODA). Dr. Tah needs to break the paradox of this rich continent with limited available revenue and financing to spend on her development.”
The Bank will need to deploy every tool available. That means scaling hybrid capital models, pushing for greater Special Drawing Rights (SDR) reallocation, and unlocking callable capital to extend lending power without worsening debt sustainability. Tah has already endorsed many of these tools in his previous roles — now, he’ll need to operationalise them under heightened scrutiny.
But as Makka points out, the real challenge may lie less in structuring new facilities, and more in challenging the frameworks that govern Africa’s cost of capital. “The problem isn’t reckless borrowing,” she says. “It’s a system that inflates risk, suppresses accurate credit ratings, and exposes countries to volatile foreign exchange markets.”
Between 2016 and 2021, African countries paid an estimated $56 billion more in interest than they would have under concessional terms. That figure, Makka notes, is larger than all FDI into the continent last year. “He has the network and the experience to challenge the entrenched bias in credit rating methodologies that unnecessarily inflate borrowing costs.”
In 2022, Ghana was borrowing at yields over 15% — despite not defaulting on any debt at the time — while comparably rated countries in Eastern Europe accessed finance at single-digit rates. In the absence of reform, the risk premium on African debt will continue to inhibit public investment. Tah’s response to this systemic mispricing — and his willingness to bring African voices into G20 and IMF reform conversations — will define his legitimacy as a continental leader.
Climate capital and a harder edge on minerals
While his predecessor made climate adaptation and agricultural resilience key priorities, Tah is likely to bring a sharper edge to the Bank’s approach — especially when it comes to resource-based industrial policy.
“We can expect a stronger push to finance adaptation infrastructure, renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture,” says Makka. “It’s about ensuring that green transitions do not leave African workers, communities, and industries behind.”
The numbers are compelling. African economies account for less than 4% of global emissions, but suffer disproportionately from climate shocks. Yet they receive less than 3% of global climate finance. Tah is expected to make this imbalance a central diplomatic issue.
But it’s in the mineral space that his presidency could take a more assertive turn. Africa holds nine of the world’s 17 designated transition minerals, including cobalt, graphite, lithium, and rare earths. Much of this wealth is still extracted and shipped raw. Tah has signalled his intent to change that.
“African countries have the potential to increase mineral-related revenue from $52 billion to $300 billion annually over the next decade,” says Makka. “That opportunity, if handled correctly, will reshape how the continent negotiates with China, the EU and the United States.”
Under his leadership, the Bank may increase financing for refining infrastructure, smelting capacity, rail and logistics networks, and high-voltage power grids — the foundational pieces for an industrialisation strategy tied to the energy transition. That could also enable stronger leverage in global trade talks, where African producers have long been price takers.
Inclusive growth and the private sector test
One of the areas where Tah’s BADEA record drew attention was private sector engagement in fragile and informal economies. While the AfDB has traditionally struggled to penetrate small-scale capital gaps, Tah is expected to push deeper into derisking tools that crowd in African institutional investors and diaspora capital.
“Dr. Tah has long championed the role of the private sector as a catalyst for inclusive and sustainable growth,” Makka says. “We should see a stronger shift toward empowering African entrepreneurs, SMEs, and industrial transformation.”
At BADEA, this meant digital SME ecosystems, AI-backed agri-finance tools, and pilot projects in post-conflict markets such as Chad, Mali and Sierra Leone. It also meant gender-targeted programming. “During his time at BADEA, gender responsive programming gained traction, with over 60% of BADEA-funded projects, since 2020, incorporating components designed to empower women economically,” Makka says.
The AfDB under Tah is likely to double down on agro-industrial zones, blended-finance facilities, and domestic venture pipelines that integrate with regional markets. Rather than replicating big-ticket development finance playbooks, the aim may be to seed new markets — with support for logistics, payments, and scale-up finance — before exiting.
That approach, however, will have to coexist with shareholder expectations from both North and South. Gulf capital and Islamic financiers may support risk-tolerant lending, but European and U.S. shareholders will continue to demand discipline, transparency, and macro-level governance reform. That leaves little room for missteps.
“Transparency and inclusive stakeholder engagement will be essential in the early stages of his tenure,” Makka says.
A tightrope presidency
Tah’s first real test will come well before he completes his first year. “ADF-17 has a current pipeline of about $11 billion USD. This will be his early test of leadership,” says Makka. Without progress on that replenishment, the Bank’s capacity to operate in its most vulnerable markets will shrink — and so too will its relevance.
But beyond funding rounds and policy briefs, the larger question is whether Tah can reassert the Bank’s identity in a shifting global order. One that is more multipolar, more indebted, and less inclined to support multilateralism at all.
If he succeeds, the AfDB could emerge not just as a conduit for capital, but as a standard-setter for Africa’s macroeconomic future — from credit markets to green supply chains.
If he fails, the consequences will be stark: deeper marginalisation, higher borrowing costs, and another lost decade of underfunded infrastructure, constrained fiscal space, and policy subordination.
In an era of contested capital and brittle alliances, Tah’s presidency may prove the most consequential in the Bank’s history. Whether he can bend the institution to the demands of a new African moment — or whether the weight of legacy structures and cautious shareholders holds him back — remains to be seen.
