Dr Sidi Ould Tah assumed office on September 1st after winning the role with 76 percent of the vote, the highest first-term mandate in the institution’s history.
The arrival coincided with a Trump administration announcement to pull $555 million from the bank’s primary development fund, a withdrawal predicated on a lack of synergy with Washington’s current priorities.
The chronology is telling; as traditional support thins, the new leader brings a decade of experience in Riyadh, where he led the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa through a period of total institutional overhaul.
The Riyadh Transition
The leader’s previous role serves as a blueprint for the bank’s next phase. During a tenure at BADEA through 2025, Dr Tah attained top-tier credit ratings that established the bank as a mainstay of continental liquidity.
He engineered a 376 percent expansion of capital and launched a ten-year strategy that saw annual lending grow twelvefold. When conflict broke out in Sudan in 2023, he oversaw a move to Riyadh that kept the bank’s operations stable and uninterrupted.
The Architecture of New Capital
Gulf cooperation is filling the gap as Africa’s infrastructure needs demand $170 billion every year, a sum far higher than the $80 billion available from traditional sources.
Gulf Cooperation Council nations have accelerated their involvement, investing $113 billion in the last two years – a sum that overshadows the entire activity from the previous decade.
The United Arab Emirates alone committed $97 billion during the period. Investment activity concentrates on infrastructure, energy, and agriculture, partly because GCC nations procure nearly 90 percent of their food from abroad. Africa’s vast, uncultivated land offers a logic for such domestic needs.
Strategic Convergence
Dr Tah commands respect within both African governance circles and Middle Eastern wealth funds.
As African economies look toward the capital of the South, the president has proposed a continental guarantee agency to absorb the risks that often freeze private capital. The GCC offers project expertise and green technology, and the goals for energy and jobs now match Africa’s own internal aims.
Capital and Strategy
The Arab Coordination Group provided over $60 billion in finance over the last decade, a reorientation beyond oil and toward a stake in Africa’s green energy and growing markets.
Trade between the U.A.E. and Africa reached $100 billion in 2024, while Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is buying into mining and farms. In Kenya, investments topped $5 billion in 2025, including a $1 billion Masdar project in steam power and a $600 million green data centre.
Diverging Philosophies
The divergence in philosophy is acute. Washington claims a desire for a direct return on its money, while the Gulf takes a longer view of the engagement.
At a 2023 Riyadh meeting, the Arab Coordination Group promised $50 billion by 2030. Qatar obtained land in Algeria to grow wheat, and Kuwait has 45 farm projects across the continent. Such investments satisfy a mutual need, anchoring Gulf food security in African soil.
Sovereignty and the New Guard
The migration of funding invites scrutiny over autonomy, but Dr Tah campaigned on a plan to raise more money at home and fix local financial systems.
Confidence is growing as Africa adopts better rules and the AfCFTA links the continent’s markets. With the AfDB seeing a capital deficit of $108 billion annually, Gulf wealth funds are seizing the space left as Western investors retreat and China recalibrates its lending.
A Shift in the Global Order
The instalment of a president with ingrained Gulf links denotes where resources are now pooling. Dr Tah intends to foster partnerships with the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, using financial tools that lessen the reliance on traditional donors.
In 2024, GCC-Africa large-scale projects accounted for 6 percent of global foreign investment. As Africa’s population nears 1.5 billion, Gulf states are embedding themselves in the sectors that define the future: renewables, mining, and telecommunications.
Whether the AfDB can use the capital without losing its voice remains the primary question. In the first 100 days, Dr Tah listed goals of listening and reform, stating the bank will be “attentive and responsive.”
The reorientation in funding shows which actors value African growth today, and the bank’s leadership must now serve African interests amid the competing global powers. The track record suggests the president is well-prepared for the task.
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