- Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
- Tah will assume office on September 1, 2025, succeeding outgoing President Akinwumi Adesina.
- Tah brings over three decades of leadership in African and international finance and economic development.
Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group during the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Sidi Ould Tah elected ninth president of AfDB
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Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected as the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group during the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
He will take over from outgoing President Akinwumi Adesina, whose second term concludes this year.
Tah was chosen by the Bank’s Board of Governors, the institution’s highest decision-making body, which is composed of finance and economy ministers or central bank governors from the AfDB’s 81 member countries, both regional and non-regional.
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The results were announced by Niale Kaba, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Planning and Development and Chairperson of the Board of Governors.
The winning candidate is required to obtain at least 50.01% of both the regional and non-regional votes.
Tah's over three decades of finance experience
Tah, a Mauritanian national, brings over three decades of leadership in African and international finance. He most recently served as president of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), where he led a major institutional transformation between 2015 and 2024.
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Under his leadership, BADEA’s balance sheet quadrupled, the bank achieved a coveted AAA credit rating, and it rose to prominence as one of the top-rated development banks with a focus on Africa.
Previously Mauritania’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Tah has held high-level positions in multilateral institutions, where he led crisis response efforts, spearheaded financial reforms, and championed innovative resource mobilization across Africa, including launching BADEA’s $1 billion callable capital program to support African multilateral development banks.
Tah contested the AfDB presidency alongside four other candidates: Hott Amadou (Senegal), Maimbo Munzele of (Zambia), Tolli Mahamat of (Chad), and Swazi Tshabalala of (South Africa).
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Tah will officially assume office on 1 September 2025, beginning a five-year term, following the conclusion of current President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s second mandate.
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The election of a new president comes at a pivotal moment in the African Development Bank Group’s six-decade history.
While the continent has shown resilience in the face of climate shocks, economic turbulence, and shifting geopolitical dynamics, it must accelerate progress to avoid lagging on key development priorities, namely, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are encapsulated in the Bank Group’s “High 5” strategic framework.
