Amadou Hott: African Development Bank should focus on jobs, innovation

The African Development Bank’s top priority should be job creation and expanding economic opportunities, said Amadou Hott, a candidate for the institution’s presidency. “It's time to provide people with the economic opportunities, with the jobs, so that their dignity is recognized,” he said at the Devex World event. Achieving sustained economic growth will be challenging amid high debt levels and expensive borrowing costs, partly due to credit rating agencies that sometimes treat African countries unfairly, translating to higher interest rates compared to similar nations in other regions. Governments must focus on better mobilizing domestic resources by enhancing tax collection and improving policies to ensure funds are used efficiently. “So all of those ingredients have to be addressed. And we cannot address all of that if you do not have also the right skills in government, the right directors, the right analysts, the right people,” Hott said. AfDB could potentially help establish a program to bring large numbers of experts to work with and train governments to address those issues, Hott said. The bank must also boost its innovation and “step up drastically our private sector operations,” Hott said, acknowledging that could entail greater risk and capital requirements. The bank is trying to stretch its current funding through a variety of innovative financial instruments, but there are additional tools shareholders could support, he said. But the bank should also play a role in mobilizing the $2.5 trillion owned by wealthy individuals on the continent. “What I want to do is really make sure that we are having the biggest impact possible,” he said. While the African Development Bank recently received more shareholder funding, the African Development Fund, which aids the continent’s least developed countries, will likely need more money and should consider innovation, Hott said. The fund could access capital markets, as the International Development Association — World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries does — allowing it to stretch its funding further, he said.