The Executive Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group on Wednesday approved the institution's Information Technology Strategy 2013-2015 and the Bank Group's Participation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund.
At their regular weekly meeting in Tunis, the Board also approved over US $107 million (UA 69.95 million) in loans and grants to finance projects in Zimbabwe, Nacala Corridor in Mozambique, and the integration of payments systems in East Africa.
Information Technology Strategy 2013 - 2015
The IT strategy lays out the various changes which the Bank's Information Management and Methods (CIMM) department will make over a three-year period to help the institution deliver results.
These include aligning the IT delivery capacity along the Bank's Long Term Strategy (LTS); enabling organizational effectiveness through efficient use of IT systems; providing effective support to the Bank's decentralization strategy; maintaining financial soundness and business continuity; and achieving lower costs while building capacity via "economies of skills."
The Bank Group's Participation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund
The Proposal for the Bank's participation as an implementation support agency for the MENA Transition Fund being administered by the World Bank, delegates to AfDB Management the approval authority for proposals under the Fund for the benefit of MENA countries that are members of the Bank Group. The Fund will provide grant funding for technical cooperation and pilot projects that could address a broad range of inter-related thematic areas covering finance, trade, and governance. Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are qualified to receive support under the facility.
The Zimbabwe Capacity Building Project for Public Finance and Economic Management (CBPFEM)
The US $24.74 million (UA 16.12 million) approved to CBPFEM will be used to leverage capacity in two key areas: i) Enhanced capacity for public financial management, including debt management, and revenue collection; and (ii) improve capacities for the implementation of the Medium Term Plan (MTP), legal and institutional framework for PPPs, statistical development, and regional integration framework.
The Mozambique-Nacala Road Corridor project Phase III
The Bank's support - US $59.32 million (UA 38.65 million) and US $0.28 million (UA 0.18 million) ADF loan and grant - will be used to improve transportation from Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia to the port of Nacala. It will also help improve transport linkages within Mozambique (Niassa and Nampula provinces) to economic opportunities and social services.
The EAC Payment and Settlement Systems Integration Project
The African Development Fund Board approved a Grant of US $23.02 million (UA 15 million) to finance the improvement and integration of the payment systems in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The project would contribute to the modernization, harmonization and integration of payment and settlement systems in the EAC Partner States.
