Tunis - The African Development Bank on Tuesday called on G20 leaders to make more resources available to meet the needs of African nations suffering from the effects of the global financial crisis. G20 leaders are scheduled to meet in the US city of Pittsburgh to discuss a coordinated response to the financial crisis on Thursday and Friday.
"Let the message go forth from Pittsburgh that as the world economy shows signs of recovery, Africa and the low income countries are not left behind, but are (made) part of the recovery process," said Donald Kaberuka, the Bank's president.
Kaberuka called for "a general capital increase" in funding for the bank, and "a generous replenishment of the soft loan" to it.
The bank said it expected to increase its investments in 2009 from 5.8 billion US dollars in 2008, and that most of that money was used to support the budgets of regional countries, develop their infrastructure, to provide liquidity, and support trade.
In March, the bank proposed a 1.5-billion-dollar emergency liquidity fund, a trade-finance initiative worth 1 billion dollars, mechanisms to speed the transfer of money to countries in need and a greater advisory role to help "mitigate the impact of the crisis."
