Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan have pledged a combined $16 million to the African Development Fund (ADF), tripling their previous collective contribution and marking a major shift toward African-led financing and reform-focused development.
The announcement was made during a constituency meeting on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings in Abidjan. The $16 million pledge represents a 220% increase over the $5 million pledged in the previous replenishment cycle and raises the number of African contributors to the Fund from eight to thirteen, a 62.5% rise in participation. Ghana pledged $5 million, followed by $3 million each from Sudan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and $2 million from The Gambia.
This is the first time all five countries in the constituency have contributed to the ADF, the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group, which supports low-income member countries. The increase was described as a powerful signal of African ownership in shaping the continent’s development trajectory.
The meeting also marked a transition in leadership within the constituency. Outgoing Sierra Leonean Finance Minister Sheku Bangura and Executive Director Rufus Darkortey were both recognized for their roles in deepening engagement with the Bank, strengthening reform momentum, and broadening access to development financing.
Each of the five countries has undertaken substantial fiscal and governance reforms. The Gambia doubled its tax-to-GDP ratio in two years. Ghana has implemented digital tax compliance tools and reform measures to boost domestic revenue. Liberia is set to pilot the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank initiative. Sierra Leone and Sudan have benefited from targeted support focused on infrastructure and crisis response.
Newly appointed finance ministers, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson of Ghana and Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan of Liberia, are expected to lead the constituency’s next phase of transformation, with a focus on reducing aid dependency and catalyzing private sector growth.
The group’s forward strategy includes transitioning eligible countries from concessional to non-concessional financing, attracting private capital, and converting remittance flows into sustainable development instruments.
“This is our moment to position our countries not as passive recipients, but as agile reformers and credible investment destinations,” said Bangura, urging members to anchor domestic resource mobilization and private sector development in their national agendas.
The constituency’s unified pledge and reform agenda are being positioned as a model for African-led development, signaling to the global community that Africa is ready to finance and shape its own future.
