Africa Needs A New Marshall Plan, Says Afdb Presidential Candidate

As the campaign to lead the African Development Bank gathers pace, one of the candidates, Samuel Maimbo, tells African Business that the continent is "being left behind" and needs reforms to achieve rapid and sustained growth.

"My number one reason for running for the African Development Bank presidency is it will give me the platform to work on the last mile problem we have in development," says the Zambian national, who has spent more than twenty years working in senior roles at the World Bank.

Akinwumi Adesina's successor as AfDB president will be chosen on 29 May at a meeting of the Bank's board of governors. The board is made up of representatives of the 54 African countries plus the 27 non-African countries that are shareholders in the Bank.

Maimbo is basing his campaign on the need for a step change in the pace of economic development on the continent.

"I do worry that we know we no longer have the same levels of ambition for Africa that we had for Europe in the aftermath of World War II," he says. "Where is Africa's Marshall Plan?"