AFDB extends Sh55 billion to drought stricken countries

NAIROBI, KENYA: The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has announced a Sh55.449 billion relief package to support 14 countries grappling with severe drought in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA).

The Africa’s premier development finance institution acknowledged the severe impact of the El Niño weather pattern that is associated with abnormally high temperatures.  

Announcing the financial assistance in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the bank President, Akinwumi Adesina confirmed that ESA region is experiencing the worst drought compared to past decades subjecting almost 36 million people to serious starvation.

The situation calls for urgent supply of food in addition to other resources to help in building economic resilience.    

“The drought response package announced by the AfDB Group consists of US $5 million in emergency relief and US $361 million in short-to-long term support from various windows of the Bank’s financial instruments. This amount represents new financial resources,” said Dr. Adesina.

The bank he added will put in place a mechanism that would ensure faster disbursements of funds in ongoing projects, which were designed to build the affected countries’ resilience to drought. This will make available an additional amount of US $183 million in 2016. 

Adesina who assumed the bank leadership in September 2015 also noted that cycles of drought and floods are natural phenomena integral to tropical weather and climate systems.

“However, in recent years, droughts and floods have been occurring with increased severity, frequency and variability in many parts of the Africa. Currently, 14 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are experiencing severe droughts that have disrupted crop and livestock production systems,” he added.

The increased frequency and severity of droughts is linked to global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions.

Adesina observed that Africa’s agriculture is nearly 95 percent rain-fed thus making it highly vulnerable to fluctuations in rainfall patterns.  

He emphasised that there will be greater flexibility in the use of AfDB’s financial instruments, speeding up disbursements.