Grace Ashiru
The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional financing arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has raised a record $11 billion for its 17th replenishment cycle, ADF 17, marking the largest funding round in the Fund’s history.
According to a statement by the AfDB, the pledges were secured from 43 partners during a replenishment session held in London on December 16, 2025, despite tight global fiscal conditions and declining aid budgets. The Bank said the outcome represents a 23 percent increase over the previous replenishment cycle and reflects renewed confidence in Africa’s development outlook as well as the AfDB Group’s investment-led strategy.
Sidi Ould Tah, president of the AfDB, said the scale of the replenishment signals a shift in development finance at a time of heightened global uncertainty. He noted that partners chose ambition and long-term investment over retrenchment, describing ADF 17 as a turning point rather than a routine funding exercise.
The statement further noted that, for the first time since the Fund was established, African countries made significant contributions to their own concessional financing window. Twenty-three African countries pledged a combined $182.7 million, representing a fivefold increase compared to the previous cycle, with 19 countries contributing for the first time. The development positions Africa not only as a beneficiary of concessional finance but also as a co-investor in its development financing framework.
ADF 17 also introduces a structural shift in how concessional resources will be deployed. Partners endorsed a financial model that allows the Fund to leverage its balance sheet, introduce a market-borrowing option during the cycle, deploy hybrid capital instruments, and use concessional resources to absorb risk and crowd in private capital.
The AfDB noted that every dollar committed through the Fund currently mobilises more than $2.50 in co-financing, a ratio that is expected to rise under the new framework.
Alongside the replenishment, large-scale concessional co-financing partnerships were announced. The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa pledged up to $800 million, while the OPEC Fund for International Development committed up to $2 billion. The partnerships are expected to strengthen the Fund’s capacity to deliver transformational projects, particularly in fragile and high-risk environments.
Resources mobilised under ADF 17 will be channelled to 37 low-income and fragile African countries, with priority areas including energy access, food systems and food security, human capital development, regional integration and trade, and resilient infrastructure. Targeted support will continue for countries facing fragility through mechanisms such as the Transition Support Facility.
The replenishment process was co-hosted by the United Kingdom and Ghana. Jenny Chapman, the United Kingdom’s minister of state for international development and Africa, said the UK was proud to support the Fund’s role in driving sustainable and inclusive growth across the continent. Thomas Nyarko Amprem, Ghana’s deputy minister of finance, described the ADF as a strategic instrument for reducing vulnerability in Africa.
Established in 1972, the African Development Fund has provided more than $45 billion in grants, concessional loans and guarantees to Africa’s lowest-income countries and remains a core pillar of African-led multilateral development finance
