Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania was elected President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group at the bank’s Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Tah will replace Akinwumi Adesina, a Nigerian economist, who led the AfDB for 10 years following his election in 2015.
He was elected by the bank’s Board of Governors, comprising Finance and Economy Ministers or Central Bank Governors of the Bank Group’s 81 regional and non-regional member countries.
The election was decided in three rounds, where Tah received 76.18% of votes, surpassing Zambia’s Samuel Maimbo, who garnered 20.26%, and Senegal’s Amadou Hott, who received 3.55%.
It was gathered that the winning candidate was only required to obtain at least 50.01% of both the regional and non-regional votes.
The results were announced by Niale Kaba, Minister of Planning and Development for Cote d’Ivoire, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Bank Group.
TNG reports Tah had served as president of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) for 10 years from 2015.
He led a full transformation that quadrupled the bank’s balance sheet, secured a AAA rating, and positioned BADEA among the top-rated development banks focused on Africa.
A former Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of Mauritania, Tah has held senior roles in multilateral institutions and has led crisis response, financial reform, and innovative resource mobilization for Africa, including the establishment of BADEA’s $1 billion callable capital program for African MDBs.
Born in 1964, Tah studied at the University of Nouakchott before moving to France. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France and a postgraduate degree in economics from the University of Paris VII.
Tah effectively began his professional career at the Mauritanian Bank for Development and Commerce (BMDC). He subsequently held several positions, including at the Municipality of Nouakchott and the Autonomous Port of Nouakchott.
In 1996, he joined the Arab Authority for Investment and Agricultural Development, based in Khartoum, before becoming head of the Islamic Development Bank (EBID) in Saudi Arabia.
In 2006, he returned to Mauritania where he was appointed advisor to the President, and later to the Prime Minister. In 2008, he became Mauritania’s Minister of Economy and Finance.
In 2015, he was elected President of BADEA. He resigned as Minister and took office in July 2015.
TNG reports Tah will assume office on 1 September 2025, for a five-year term, following the end of the second mandate of Adesina.
TNG reports the 2025 Annual Meetings of the AfDB Group are taking place from May 26 to 30 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire under the theme “Making Africa’s Capital Work Better for Africa’s Development”.
The AfDB Group comprises three entities: the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund.
Its shareholder countries include 54 African countries or regional member countries, and 27 non-African countries or non-regional member countries.