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Mail & Guardian

African Development Bank

latest news & developments
2026 GAUTENG INVESTMENT CONFERENCE GIC

South Africa’s investment drive is rebuilding the economy

In an era when cynicism too often dominates public discourse and doubt easily overshadows progress, the facts speak volumes. South Africa is attracting capital, rebuilding…

  • Cornelius Monama
7 min read
AFRICA

Lobito Corridor: A new line for trade and investment

The corridor is strategically significant given that Zambia, Angola and the DRC are home to some of the world’s most significant deposits of critical minerals

  • Dennis Mulilo
3 min read
AFRICA

Southern and East Africa plug into shared power future

Zambia and Zimbabwe have each committed US$220 million to restarting the long-delayed $4.2 billion Batoka Gorge Hydropower Station near Victoria Falls

  • Reginald Ntomba
2 min read
Concerns: Local residents gather to voice their opposition to the construction of the Polihali Dam in Lesotho, as part of the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
ACCOUNTABILITY COUNSEL

‘Our Land, Our Lives’: Lesotho villagers challenge Gauteng water scheme

Lesotho villagers allege unsafe conditions and no accountability in the scheme to supply Gauteng

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
The second phase of the Lesotho Highlands must not repeat the mistakes of the first phase in which women were displaced and disempowered. Photo: File
AFDB

Lesotho Highlands Water Project must work with women, not against them

Public banks – Development Bank of Southern Africa, African Development Bank and the New Development Bank – and the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority render women invisible…

  • Mosa Letsie & Marianne Buenaventura Goldman
5 min read
Johannesburg’s inner city. Cities in Africa can benefit from genuinely affordable financing. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy, M&G
AFCFTA

Rebooting the global financial system will pay dividends in Africa

Transforming the world’s monetary policies would benefit African cities and the continent’s public development banks have a key role to play

  • Zeph Nhleko
6 min read
The African Development Bank’s shareholders must decide whether the mandate will expand to crowd in private finance, derisk green investment and underwriter regional public goods, or retreat to classical project lending.
AFDB

African Development Bank at 60: Time to reclaim the zeal of its visionary reformers

The bank’s shareholders, African and non-African alike, must decide whether the mandate will expand to crowd in private finance, derisk green investment and underwriter regional…

  • Obi Ezekwesili, Kalidou Gadio & Agnes Kalibata
5 min read
African Development Bank Group headquarters in Le Plateau, the business district of the Ivorian capital Abidjan. – (Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images)
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

A woman leading the African Development Bank would be a strategic investment

The AfDB has been led by men since it was founded in 1964.

  • Amina Mohamed
  • Susana Malcorra
4 min read
Endowed with a third of the world’s supply of them, the continent must push for actions that have the most benefits for its people. (Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)
AFRICA CRITICAL MINERALS

The power of Africa’s critical minerals

Endowed with a third of the world’s supply of them, the continent must push for actions that have the most benefits for its people

  • Nkateko Chauke
  • Francis Agbere
5 min read
A new case study proposes that, as part of the country’s energy transition, mining-affected communities, like those in Sekhukhune, set up solar farms through cooperatives to generate electricity for their own use.
AFRICA

A new currency backed by minerals? Africa is gambling on its energy transition

The continent must use energy minerals for its development rather than feeding them to industrialised countries

  • Dean Bhekumuzi Bhebhe
4 min read
Africa’s infrastructure financing gap needs to be bridged. Photo: Adrian Greeman/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images
AFRICA

Africa needs a financial revolution

The continent’s problems require more than traditional development banking and aid, they need a complete reimagining of how development finance works

  • Mundia Kabinga
3 min read
In Africa, where women make up 45% of entrepreneurs — the highest rate globally — gender disparity in access to funding remains a significant barrier to economic equity and growth. (Getty Images)
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Q&A: Can gender bonds unlock Africa’s potential?

Proponents claim that gender bonds represent a powerful tool for addressing gender inequality and unlocking Africa’s economic potential

  • Lesego Chepape
4 min read
The World Bank Group, in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other collaborators, recently launched Mission 300, which aims to connect 300 million people to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. (Supplied)
AFRICA

World Bank’s Mission 300 to invest in electricity in Africa

But the financing models, which blend loans with private investments, could deepen African countries’ debt crisis

  • Karabo Mokgonyana
5 min read
Ameen Hassen, Head of Shariah Banking at Standard Bank
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT

Islamic and conventional finance: moving past the perceived differences will unlock growth on the continent

Shari’ah financing can help Africa achieve important development goals

  • Ameen Hassen
3 min read
Transnet is falling well below its target of shifting 200 million to 220 million tonnes of freight a year, at which point — it is estimated — it will begin to make a meaningful contribution to the economy. Its current target is 170 million tonnes a year. Photo: (Karel Prinsloo/Bloomberg)
AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA

African Development Bank rescue of Transnet has national, regional and continental implications

This investment, used as a facilitator of local production, can also help develop regional value chains and access upstream global value chains

  • Siphumelele Duma
  • Mikatekiso Kubayi
5 min read