Mauritania’s Tah clinches AfDB presidency after landslide victory

…What to expect from Tah at helm

Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania has been elected president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), winning more than two-thirds of the votes from African shareholders and 77 percent overall score—a double mandate never before achieved in the Bank’s history.

Tah defeated Zambia’s Samuel Maimbo (20.26 percent), his closest contender, and Senegal’s Amadou Hott (3.55 percent) after the race narrowed down to the three. Chad’s Mahamat Abbas Tolli was the first to be eliminated, taking just 0.88 percent of the vote, followed by the only woman in the race–South Africa’s Swazi Tshabalala who notched 5.9 percent.

It took just two rounds for Tah to secure a commanding lead over the other contenders. By contrast, in 2015, Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina needed six rounds to clinch the presidency, ultimately winning with 58.1 percent support.

Tah, who led the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) for a decade, resumes office on September, 1 2025.

The election of a new president comes at a crucial time in the Bank Group’s six decades of existence, the AfDB said in a statement announcing Tah’s victory.

“Africa has remained resilient despite climate shocks, economic disruption, and a shifting geopolitical landscape, but needs to move faster or risk falling behind on delivering on the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, summed up in the Bank Group’s High 5’s,” the AfDB said.

Read also: What Ould Tah’s tenure at BADEA reveals about his AfDB candidacy

What to expect from Tah’s presidency

During his campaign, Tah, who entered the race last of the five candidates vying to lead the AfDB, said he will turbocharge the bank’s annual lending capacity tenfold to $100 billion, a move aimed at closing Africa’s vast infrastructure financing gap by tapping deep-pocketed Gulf investors.

At the heart of his plan is a potential game-changer– a capital bridge between Africa and the Gulf’s sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), some of the world’s largest and most liquid investment vehicles.

“The Gulf region has excess liquidity and operates multiple development finance institutions offering capital at low cost,” Tah said in an interview with BusinessDay. “We are not fully tapping into this potential, despite growing interest from GCC sovereign wealth funds to invest in Africa.”

The partnership could radically expand the AfDB’s firepower at a time when African nations are grappling with an annual infrastructure financing gap running into over $100 billion, and as AfDB’s traditional funding, including contributions from its second-largest shareholder, the United States, shows signs of strain.

Tah believes the answer lies in a recalibrated capital strategy, one that aligns Africa’s massive financing needs with the Gulf’s surging investment appetite.

Read also: A “Gulf” of opportunity: Inside Tah’s 10x plan for AfDB

The Gulf’s trillions

Sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) –notably from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait– now manage over $4 trillion in assets.

Globally, SWFs accounted for $12 trillion in assets under management as of the end of 2024, and are expected to grow to $18 trillion by 2030, according to global consultancy, Deloitte. Gulf funds control nearly 40% of this pool.

In a capital-constrained development landscape, that’s a compelling pool of untapped liquidity.

“Given my background and my network in the Arab financial ecosystem, I am positioned to bring fresh strategic capital into Africa’s development agenda,” Tah said.

According to Deloitte, the GCC’s sovereign funds deployed $82 billion in 2023 and another $55 billion in the first nine months of 2024, with increased attention on Asia and Africa.

Gulf SWFs have been particularly active in China, investing nearly $9.5 billion over the past year, and have become significant shareholders in Chinese firms.

Tah argues that Africa, with its demographic dividend, mineral wealth, and infrastructure needs, offers a comparable long-term bet, especially for Gulf funds seeking geopolitical influence and development impact.

Tah’s pitch includes establishing co-investment structures between AfDB and Gulf SWFs, particularly in large-scale infrastructure, energy, and climate-resilient agriculture.

Tah also sees scope to draw in African pension funds, which hold more than $2 trillion, most of it invested outside the continent.

Read also: From BADEA to AfDB: Tah bids to replicate success on larger stage

Tah bids to replicate BADEA success at AfDB

Tah’s candidacy is not without precedent. Under his leadership, BADEA’s assets grew by 75 percent, an expansion that was quietly executed but widely respected in development finance circles.

He has also nurtured closer ties between African governments and Arab development institutions, a network he now wants to leverage on a continental scale.

Critically, he envisions the AfDB not just as a lender, but as a platform for mobilising diverse sources of patient capital, structured through risk-sharing instruments and guarantees. He proposes the consolidation of Africa’s fragmented credit guarantee agencies into a single pan-African institution to enhance risk mitigation and credit enhancement, tools essential to attract long-term investors.