JUST-IN: Mauritania’s Sidi Tah Elected 9th AfDB President

Sidi Ould Tah from Mauritania has been elected ninth president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Tah was elected by the Bank’s Board of Governors, comprising finance and economy ministers or central bank governors of the Bank Group’s 81 regional and non-regional member-countries on Thursday in a stiff contest.

The board is the highest decision-making authority for the Bank Group.

Tah will assume office on September 1, 2025, for a five-year term, following the end of the second mandate of current President, Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.

He pulled the highest number of votes to defeat four other contenders for the position. Other contestants for the position were: Amadou Hott (Senegal), Samuel Munzele Maombo from Zambia, Mahamat Abbas Tolli (Chad) and South Africa’s Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala.