Economy
18 African Countries Grew GDP Above 5% in 2017—AfDB
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has revealed that in 2017, the average GDP growth in Africa was 3.6 percent, up from 2.2 percent in 2016.
According to him, last year, 18 African countries grew above 5 percent in 2017, and 37 others above 3 percent.
Mr Adesina further disclosed the average GDP growth is projected to accelerate to 4.1 percent in 2018 and 2019.
The AfDB boss rolled out these figures when the bank hosted the annual luncheon of diplomats accredited to Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan on Tuesday.
During the event, he urged the bank’s member countries to contribute to the 7th General Capital Increase to enable the institution to realise its development objectives.
Welcoming the diplomats on behalf of the Board of Directors, management and staff of the Bank Group, Mr Adesina shared perspectives on the performance of African economies, updated them on the institution’s activities and highlighted emerging economic issues for the Bank and the continent.
“The African Development Bank, your Bank, is reforming, innovating, leading and delivering more for Africa than ever before.
“With the strong support for a General Capital Increase by our Board of Directors, Governors of the Bank, and you, the Ambassadors representing our shareholder countries, Africa will indeed experience a much brighter and impactful future,” he said.
Mr Adesina said the continent remains resilient to global economic headwinds and climate shocks as related by the Bank’s 2018 Africa Economic Outlook published in Abidjan on January 17, 2018.
Bank makes impressive development impacts
In 2017, the Bank achieved impressive development impacts. Its ‘Light up and power Africa’ High 5 reached 4.4 million people with access to electricity.
Its ‘Feed Africa’ goal reached 8.5 million Africans with access to improved agriculture technologies, while its ‘Integrate Africa’ provided 14 million Africans with improved access to transport and the ‘Industrialize Africa’ provided 210,000 small businesses with access to financial services.
Also, the lender’s ‘Improving the quality of life’ High 5 provided 8.3 million Africans with improved access to water and sanitation.
Mr Adesina also shared important landmarks on the bank’s ongoing reforms and achievements over the past two years: achieving its highest annual disbursement ever in its history at $7.67 billion while maintaining its Triple ‘A’ rating by the major global rating agencies; investing $1.39 billion in 31 operations in the energy sector in 23 countries representing a 30 percent increase over 2017; launching its largest bond transaction, with a $2.5 billion 3-year global benchmark, followed by its largest ever 5-year global benchmark for $2 billion; and continues to grow its income, reversing a two-year declining trend; and recording a rise in 2016 in its net operating income to $556.6 million, which shot up to $855 million in 2017, and increased by almost 54 percent over 2016, and 73 percent increase over 2015.
Currently, the Bank is spearheading the development of the Desert-to-Power initiative to harness electricity from the sun all across the Sahel, designed to generate 10,000 MW of power, connect 250 million people to electricity, including providing 75 million people with off-grid systems.
A generous General Capital Increase will enable Bank to do more
The Bank is “reforming, changing, delivering and leading,” through the strong support it receives from it member countries, Mr Adesina said, adding that such support will be most needed during the General Capital Increase to help the Bank do more for Africa.
“At a time that we need to ramp up support to Africa for the SDGs, the Bank needs more resources through a General Capital Increase (GCI). The message could not have been heard louder than when the Ministers and Governors of the Bank from West and Central Africa came to the Bank recently. They unanimously supported the General Capital Increase for the Bank,” he said.
“The support of all shareholders will be crucial for the General Capital Increase of the Bank. The Bank should do more for Africa and we are working extremely hard to revamp the Bank, and put it in a much stronger position, with more highly capable staff and institutional capacity to deliver more … better and faster. Our ability to deliver in the past and now is a good indication that you can depend on us to deliver more in the future.”
Johannesburg to host Africa Investment Forum in November 2018
To mobilize African and global pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors, to invest in Africa, the Bank has launched the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) to be held November 7-9 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The transactional forum is expected to become Africa’s premier investment marketplace, Mr Adesina said, noting that several peer institutions have indicated their interest in participating in what could become Africa’s largest private-sector investment accelerator.
In his response, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Apostolic Nuncio to Côte d’Ivoire, Monsignor Joseph Spitieri, congratulated Mr Adesina on his 58th birthday and commended the Bank for helping pull people out of poverty.
“The success of your strategy encapsulated in the High 5s is testimony to your commitment to help people in Africa and reduce poverty,” the cleric said.
“We wish the Bank success in its endeavours to improve the lot of the most deprived people in Africa,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has called on state and local governments to account for the N10.4 trillion they received from resources generated following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
The Director-General of NECA, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, made the call on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday morning, a day after the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed details of the financial impact of the federal government’s economic reforms.
Mr Oyedele had said the removal of the petrol subsidy and reforms to the foreign exchange market mobilised N15.8 trillion for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
According to the minister, the federal government received N5.4 trillion of the amount, while N10.4 trillion was distributed to state and local governments through the Federation Account.
Reacting to the disclosure, Mr Oyerinde said the states and local governments should now provide details of how the funds they received were utilised.
He particularly called on state commissioners for finance to disclose the amounts their respective governments received and how the funds were spent.
“Absolutely. I think it should trickle down. The commissioners of finance in states, you come out and also say, this is how much we’ve received; this is how much we have spent,” he said on the television programme.
Mr Oyerinde compared the expected disclosure by governments to the financial reporting obligations of private businesses, where companies present audited accounts and performance reports to shareholders.
“We believe strongly that as private businesses, at the end of the year you audit your accounts, you present your scorecard to your shareholders to gauge what we have done. The Minister of Finance has led the way now, and the states also should follow,” he said.
The NECA director-general urged state governments to provide a breakdown of the funds received, the challenges encountered and how the money was deployed.
“And so this is how much we have received. These are the constraints we face, and this is how we have expended this amount. I think we should move progressively towards transparency in government,” he said.
Mr Oyerinde commended the Federal Government for publicly disclosing details of its finances, describing the presentation by the finance minister as a step towards greater transparency in public administration.
He said the level of detail provided by Mr Oyedele would enable citizens and other stakeholders to better scrutinise government spending and assess the impact of the reforms.
The NECA boss also said greater disclosure by the sub-national governments would allow citizens to engage state and local governments more constructively on the use of public funds.
“I also put citizens, and I must say this, citizens are also in a good position now to engage constructively, engage the state governments constructively, and also engage local governments constructively, because that is where development should actually start,” Mr Oyerinde said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has said from the N15.8 trillion in subsidy savings, N5.4 trillion went to the federal government, and N10.4 trillion was shared between the 36 states and the 774 local governments of the federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
Mr Oyedele disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while presenting the federal government’s Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented, an assessment of the economic reforms implemented under President Bola Tinubu.
The finance minister said the N15.8 trillion in subsidy savings was distributed through the Federation Account, rather than being retained entirely by the federal government.
According to him, the central government received N5.4 trillion, representing about 34 per cent of the total savings, the states received N6.5 trillion, or 41 per cent, and the local councils received N3.9 trillion, representing about 24 per cent.
The combined N10.4 trillion allocated to states and local governments accounted for almost two-thirds of the total subsidy savings and was nearly twice the amount received by the federal government.
Mr Oyedele clarified that the N15.8 trillion should not be understood as money accumulated in a dedicated government account labelled “subsidy savings”.
Rather, he said the impact of the reforms was reflected in increased resources available to the federation through higher revenue collections, which were subsequently shared among the three tiers of government through the Federation Account.
The minister said the federal government’s N5.4 trillion share formed only one component of the additional resources available to it during the period.
It also recorded N3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, mainly from remittances by government-owned entities, and obtained N11.9 trillion in incremental borrowing.
Together, the three sources provided the federal government with N20.4 trillion in incremental resources between June 2023 and December 2025.
Mr Oyedele said the distribution of the subsidy savings underscored that the reform was not designed simply to increase Federal Government revenue, as a substantial portion of the additional resources accrued to the sub-national governments.
“The reform was never introduced for revenue purposes, but to address entrenched corruption in an artificially managed fuel subsidy and foreign exchange market,” he said.
He added that the federal government subsequently deployed its additional resources, alongside funds from its existing revenue base, to meet N30.64 trillion in incremental expenditure during the period.
Of the N20.4 trillion in incremental resources available to the federal government, borrowing accounted for 58 per cent, subsidy savings for 27 per cent and other revenue for 15 per cent.
The minister said the figures provided a clearer picture of how the financial impact of the subsidy reform was distributed across the Federation, with states and local governments collectively receiving the largest share.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc has expressed satisfaction with the growing participation of non-interest financial institutions in its credit risk guarantees for loans to farmers, processors, aggregators, exporters and other businesses across multiple agricultural value chains.
The chief executive of the non-bank financial institution created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to de-risk agricultural lending in the country, Mr Sa’ad Hamidu, said non-interest lenders accounted for well over 50 per cent of the loans guaranteed by NIRSAL in the first half of 2026.
In 2025, the company guaranteed more than N100 billion to beneficiaries, and according to Mr Hamidu, this figure has already been surpassed in 2026 year-to-date.
Speaking at the AFRACA Masterclass on Inclusive Finance for Climate Resilience and Artificial Intelligence for Financial Services and Agricultural Finance in Lagos, the NIRSAL chief stated that the trend demonstrates what becomes possible when appropriate risk-sharing frameworks create sufficient confidence for different forms of capital to participate in agriculture.
“At NIRSAL, we have always maintained that agriculture, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is not underfinanced because opportunities do not exist, but because the risks have not been sufficiently understood, measured, appropriately priced, and managed,” Mr Hamidu, represented by the agency’s Executive Director of Operations, Mr Ewaen Imohe, said.
He explained that NIRSAL’s response has been to co-develop systems and financing frameworks that bring greater structure to agricultural value chains, better define and mitigate their risks, and improve financiers’ understanding of the sector and confidence to lend.
The NIRSAL boss described the masterclass as particularly timely, noting that climate change is no longer an abstract global concern but a practical reality confronting farmers, agribusinesses and their financiers every production season across Africa.
The programme’s first major theme, Inclusive Finance for Climate Resilience, exposed participants to the concepts, tools, and approaches required to understand climate risk and develop financeable adaptation and mitigation projects.
For the second major theme, Artificial Intelligence for Financial Services and Agricultural Finance, Mr Hamidu expressed the expectation that participants would move beyond the excitement surrounding AI to examine how it can improve risk understanding, transaction assessment, and financial decision-making in agriculture.
He also pointed to opportunities for technology to complement climate finance, blended finance, grants, and other innovative mechanisms capable of expanding the financial and technical resources available to African agriculture.
On deepening AFRACA-NIRSAL collaboration, he stated that, “AFRACA, for us, is a platform for knowledge, continental exchange, and global insight. On our part, we remain a results-driven source of practical experience for AFRACA member countries.”
