Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected the ninth President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and will officially succeed Akinwumi Adesina in September.
The election took place during the Bank’s Annual Meetings held today in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Tah was chosen by the Bank’s Board of Governors, which comprises Finance and Economy Ministers or Central Bank Governors from the AfDB’s 81 regional and non-regional member countries. The Board is the Bank Group’s highest decision-making authority.
The election results were announced by Niale Kaba, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Planning and Development and Chair of the Board of Governors.
To secure the presidency, a candidate must receive at least 50.01% of the vote from both regional and non-regional member countries.
The African Development Bank’s past heads since its inception in 1964 are:
- Mamoun Beheiry (Sudan), 1964-1970
- Abdelwahab Labidi (Tunisia), 1970-1976
- Kwame Donkor Fordwor (Ghana), 1976-1980
- Willa Mung’Omba (Zambia), 1980-1985
- Babacar N’diaye (Senegal), 1985-1995
- Omar Kabbaj (Morocco), 1995-2005
- Donald Kaberuka (Rwanda), 2005-2015
- Dr. Akinwumi Adesina (Nigeria), 2015-2025.