Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah Elected President of African Development Bank

Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah has been elected as the new president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), securing over 76% of the vote after a tightly contested three-round election in Abidjan. He will succeed Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina, under whose decade-long leadership the bank’s capital tripled and nearly 565 million people benefited from development projects. Now stepping into one of Africa’s most influential financial roles, Ould Tah inherits both opportunity and challenge—his leadership of the bank comes amid global tariff tensions and possible US funding cuts. Tah’s success will hinge on alliance-building with major contributors like Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa, as he works to continue AfDB’s mission of powering Africa’s growth.

France 24