Africa: Sweden Makes Supplementary Contribution to the African Development Fund

6 June 2007
African Development Bank (Abidjan)

Tunis — The government of Sweden has announced the release of a UA 20 million (approximately USD 30 million dollars) supplementary contribution to the African Development Fund (ADF) . The contribution was part of an agreement reached during the tenth replenishment of the ADF stipulating that the funds would be released if the Bank made progress towards the objectives set out in the "Harmonization and Managing for Results Action Plan".

The announcement was made in Tunis on Wednesday during a meeting of the ADF Board by the Alternate Executive Director for the constituency that includes the Nordic, Indian and Swiss member countries, Mr. Bjorn Gillsater. He informed Board members that the Swedish government had come to the conclusion, based on an assessment of progress made over the time period December 2005 and May 2007 that "the Bank had taken concrete and important steps towards the implementation of the Bank's harmonization agenda."

Mr. Gillsater said the decision, taken during a government Cabinet meeting on May 31, mentioned "certain specific signs of progress, including the rapid opening of new field offices, participation in Joint Country Assistance Strategies, and joint analytical work in, for example, the area of procurement assessments." He said the government decision also pointed to the fact that the Bank's contribution to the harmonization and managing for results agenda "is still in its early stages and much work remains, but the Government believes that the institution has come a long way in a short period of time."

The President of the Bank Group and Chairman of the Board, Donald Kaberuka, thanked the Swedish government for what he called a most encouraging gesture of support. Sweden joins four other donors that have made supplementary contributions to the ADF since the finalization of the ADF-X replenishment cycle in December 2004: Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.

1 The African Development Fund (ADF) is the soft loan arm of the African Development Bank Group, providing interest-free loans and grants to the poorest members of the Bank Group's regional member countries.

2 The HAMfR Action Plan was adopted in Rome in 2003 by Heads of Multilateral Development Banks.

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