MARKET NEWS

By Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI, July 29 (Reuters) - The African Development Bank arm lending to low-income countries will start raising $5 billion from capital markets every three years from 2027, a senior bank official said on Tuesday, as donor countries such as the United States cut support.
The Africa Development Fund (ADF) facility has provided $45 billion in concessional credit to 37 low-income African countries since it was established in 1972.

It counts the United States as its biggest cumulative donor, but President Donald Trump's administration wants to cut $555 million in funding.
"We have an ambition to go to the capital markets and raise funding, which would help us to diversify the way that we fund ourselves," said Valerie Dabady, AfDB's head of Resource Mobilization and Partnerships, during a briefing.
"We believe that we can raise up to $5 billion in every three-year cycle. But in order to get there, we have to actually change our charter," she said, adding the process of doing so was already underway.
ADF will then seek a credit rating and start undertaking the work of raising funds, following in the footsteps of the broader AfDB, which has issued a range of instruments in international capital markets over the years, Dabady said.