Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah has been elected the ninth President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
The announcement was made Thursday via the Bank’s official website.
Tah will officially assume office on September 1, 2025, succeeding Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, whose decade-long tenure concludes this year.
The election took place during the AfDB’s Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where Tah emerged victorious after several rounds of voting by the AfDB Board of Governors, which includes finance ministers and central bank governors from the Bank’s 81 member countries.
Tah triumphed over four other candidates: Amadou Hott of Senegal, Samuel Maimbo of Zambia, Abbas Mahamat Tolli of Chad, and Swazi Tshabalala of South Africa.
Born in Mederdra, Mauritania in 1964, Tah holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis in France, and has completed executive programs at Harvard University and London Business School.
He previously served as Mauritania’s Minister of Economic Affairs and more recently as Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), where he led a significant expansion of the bank’s balance sheet and secured a prestigious AAA credit rating.
Tah’s campaign emphasized mobilizing private capital, integrating the informal economy, infrastructure development, and strengthening climate resilience. He also pledged to forge stronger ties with the private sector and position the AfDB to better support African economies facing rising debt burdens, climate shocks, and constrained fiscal capacity.
The African Development Bank remains a cornerstone institution in advancing Africa’s infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and industrial growth ambitions.
What you should know
Sidi Ould Tah will become the first Mauritanian to lead the African Development Bank.
His leadership is expected to bring renewed focus on climate action, private investment, and inclusive economic transformation across the continent.
