Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania was recently elected the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) by the Bank’s Board of Governors, comprising Finance and Economy Ministers or Central Bank Governors of the Bank Group’s 81 regional and non-regional member countries. The board is the highest decision-making body of the Bank Group. A candidate for the AfDB presidency is required to score about 50.1 per cent of regional and non-regional votes cast. Tah beat the margin and secured 76.18 per cent of the total vote and 72.37 per cent of regional votes in the third round of voting, defeating four other candidates. Amadou Hott of Senegal scored 3.5 per cent of the total votes cast, Samuel Maimbo of Zambia 20.26 per cent
The Minister of Planning and Development for Cote d’ Ivoire and Chairman of the Board of Governors of AfDB, Niale Kaba, announced the results. The new president will take over from Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, a Nigerian economist, who led the AfDB for 10 years following his election in 2015. He will assume office on 1 September 2025, for an initial five-year term. The new leader brings to the bank over 35 years of experience in African and international finance.
He served as President of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) for 10 years from 2015, where he led a full transformation that quadrupled the bank’s balance sheet, secured an AAA rating, and positioned it among the top-rated development banks. Tah, a former Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of Mauritania, has held senior roles in multilateral institutions and has led crisis response, financial reform, and innovative resource mobilization for Africa.
We commend the transparent and democratic process that characterised the election of the new AfDB President. The election comes at a crucial time in the Bank Group’s six decades of existence. It is also significant in Africa’s efforts to remain resilient despite climate shocks, economic disruption, and other challenges. For the new President, his job is clearly cut out. He is expected to build and improve on strong legacies left by Adesina, who grew the bank’s capital from $93 billion in 2015 when he took office, to $318 billion ten years after. Within the period, the bank was recognized as the world’s premier multilateral financial institution and hailed as the most transparent financial facility for two consecutive years.
The AfDB under Adesina significantly amplified Africa’s voice in the global financial landscape. In the words of Adesina, “Africa’s voice is now heard at the negotiating table. More importantly, Africa’s priorities and solutions are part of global discussions. This is a transformed African Development Bank.”
The Bank attained the feats by various development-oriented initiatives like Mission 300, in collaboration with the World Bank, which aims to connect 300 million people to electricity; Africa 50, a private equity platform that focuses on infrastructure, with $1 billion in capital and an $8 billion investment portfolio; as well as the launch of the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, which will mobilize $10 billion for green infrastructure development on the continent.
Consolidating on these programmes and exploring further initiatives will be to the advantage of the AfDB and its new leader. Ould Tah was born on December 31, 1964, in Mederdra, Mauritania. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis. He also has a post-graduate degree in Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Nouakchott.
Tah began his professional career in 1984 at the Mauritanian Bank for Development and Commerce (BMDC), where he worked as an expert. He later worked as a financial analyst at the Food Security Commission in 1986 and as the Administration and Finance Manager for the Municipality of Nouakchott in 1987. From 1988 to 1996, he held the position of Advisor to the Director General and Director of the Internal Auditing Department at the Nouakchott Port Authority.
In 1996, he joined the Arab Authority for Agriculture, Investment and Development (AAAID) in Khartoum as a financial analyst. Between 1999 and 2006, Tah served as an Investment Promotion Officer and later as a Technical Assistant to the President of the Islamic Development Bank. He also held advisory roles to both the President and the Prime Minister of Mauritania from 2006 to 2008.
In July 2008, he was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance of Mauritania, a position he held until 2015. In July 2015, he was unanimously elected as the Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), a position he held until April 2025. His shining credentials and service record are in line with the objectives of the AfDB. The African Development Bank Group is a multilateral development finance institution, with headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
It is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries (RMC). The AfDB was founded in 1964 by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU). The Bank comprises three entities: The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund. We wish Tah and his team a successful tenure.