Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah has been elected the 9th president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
The announcement of his election was made on the website of the AfDB on Thursday 29 May, 2025. Sidi Ould Tah is expected to assume office on September 1, 2025, taking over from Nigeria’s Dr Akinwumi Adesina, whose 10-year tenure expires this year.
At the Bank’s Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Sidi Ould Tah became winner after rounds of voting conducted by the AfDB Board of Governors.
Tah emerged victorious over four (4) other contenders, including Amadou Hott of Senegal, Zambia’s Samuel Maimbo, Abbas Mahamat Tolli of Chad, and Swazi Tshabalala of South Africa.
The AfDB Board consists of Ministers of Finance as well as Governors of Central Banks of the eighty-one (81) members countries.
The African Development Bank plays an important role in financing infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and industrial projects across Africa.
Sidi Ould Tah, a Mauritanian, is an economist and development finance expert; born on 31 December 1964 in Mederdra, Trarza, Mauritania.
He started his professional career in 1984 at the Mauritanian Bank for Development and Commerce (BMDC), where he worked as an expert. He later worked as a financial analyst at the Food Security Commission in 1986 and as the Administration and Finance Manager for the Municipality of Nouakchott in 1987.
From 1988 to 1996, he held the position of Advisor to the Director General and Director of the Internal Auditing Department at the Nouakchott Port Authority.
In July 2008, he was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance of Mauritania, a position he held until 2015. In July 2015, he was unanimously elected as the Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), he held the office until April 2025
