AfDB urges faster business financing as African banks meet in Luanda

Sunday 8th November 2026

By inAfrika Newsroom

African Development Bank President Sidi Ould Tah has called for faster and more coordinated financial decisions to match the operating needs of businesses, as African finance leaders met in Luanda to discuss how to channel more capital into productive investment.

Addressing the Africa Financial Summit on 3 November, Ould Tah said financing institutions often work on approval and investment schedules that do not align with companies’ production, order fulfilment and hiring cycles. The bank reported his remarks on 5 November.

He set out the New African Financial Architecture for Development, known as NAFAD, as a framework for national, regional and continental financial institutions to coordinate the way they mobilise funds and share risk. It is a coordination framework, not a new cash fund available automatically to companies.

Ould Tah urged institutions to simplify processes, make their decision steps clearer and adapt financial products to the needs of smaller enterprises. He said that weak coordination can leave viable activity unfunded even when institutions individually meet their mandates.

International Finance Corporation Managing Director Makhtar Diop said the IFC was in talks with African financial partners and long-term investors on ways to channel resources into productive sectors. The summit statement did not announce a new financing facility or specify lending approvals resulting from those talks.

The bank said it was working to clarify client requirements and the length of decision processes. The initiative’s practical impact will depend on whether those changes produce financing terms, project preparation and disbursements that enterprises can actually use.

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