African Development Bank's annual board meeting winds up

The African Development Bank's board of governors has approved a 35 % increase in the capital of the Abidjan-based bank, raising the authorized capital to $ 29.5 billion.

According to executive director of the board, Ahmed Derch, the share held by African countries went down from 66 % to 60% while that of non-African donor countries increased by 6 %.

He added that arrears owed by some member countries have reached $ 800 million, a sum that seriously cripples the Bank's objectives.

The bank's annual board of governors meeting wound up Wednesday after delegates reached a consensus on the need for the bank to do more to help alleviate endemic poverty in Africa.

"Cairo marks a milestone in the annals of the African Development Bank. It heralds a period of strong partnership between the African members of the bank and its non-regional partners," the bank's president, Omar Kabbaj, told a press briefing.

However, Kabbaj deplored the decrease of international aid to the continent from $ 25 billion in 1992 to $ 17 billion in 1997.

The African Development Fund, the soft loan body of the bank funded mainly by the 24 non-regional members, is also expected to receive some 3.8 billion dollars in new funding.

The board of governors is the supreme organ of the ADB. It comprises mostly member countries ministers of finance and economy and issues general directives of the operational policies implemented by the bank's president, assisted by three vice presidents.

The next meeting has been scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in May-June 2000.