The African Development Bank (AfDB) will meet in Ivory Coast this week to elect a new president.
Candidates from South Africa, Senegal, Zambia, Chad and Mauritania are pushing to replace outgoing President Akinwumi Adesina, who will step down in September after serving the maximum two five-year terms.
The winner must secure 50.01% of the votes from the 54 African member states of the bank, and in a second vote from all 81 members, including non-African ones. The winner will be announced on Thursday.
The largest development finance institution is owned by 54 African states and G7 nations like the U.S. and Japan, with Nigeria being its biggest shareholder.
A new president will be elected at a time when the U.S. federal government wants to cut $555 million in funding to the AfDB and its African Development Fund (ADF).
One of the hurdles the new president will have to face is to persuade the U.S. to reinstate the funding, seek additional funds from non-regional members of the bank like China, or Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, in return for more say, or ask African states to contribute more, Hannah Ryder, founder of Development Reimagined, an Africa-focused consultancy told Reuters.
“This is going to be a major task, and it is effectively the new president’s first test,” said Ryder.
A lecturer at Makerere University’s business school in Kampala, Fred Muhumuza, also told Reuters that it is expected that the meeting would discuss the implications of current global events arising from the Trump administration.
“Many of the key contributors have been cutting bilateral support to African countries,” he added.
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