EXCLUSIVE-US Treasury has not pledged funds to AfDB's 2025 ADF financing round, spokesman says

By Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury did not contribute funds to the African Development Bank's fund for low-income countries, citing too much emphasis on climate change and other issues.

The Abidjan-based AfDB, Africa's biggest development lender, raised $11 billion for the African Development Fund (ADF) at a conference in London in December. But it was unclear if the United States, one of the lender's top-five state donors, had pledged any funds.

A spokesman for the U.S. Treasury said the administration under President Donald Trump would continue to hold international financial institutions accountable to their mandates and push them to focus on economic growth, private job creation and poverty reduction.

"Like too many other institutions the ADF has adopted a disproportionate focus on climate change, gender, and social issues, and as such the United States did not announce a pledge at the Fund's 17th replenishment," the spokesman said by email in response to Reuters questions.

The December pledging round had initially aimed to raise $25 billion, and while African nations said they would chip in for the first time and smaller Western donors such as Denmark and Norway stepped up their support, a missing contribution from the United States will leave a hole that will be hard to plug.

During the last ADF fund-raising round in 2022, the administration under former Democratic President Joe Biden pledged $550 million - more than 6% of that year's total commitment. But Republican President Donald Trump's administration withheld a final $197 million tranche of that commitment when he took over last year.

The ADF, which extends long-term loans to the poorest countries on concessional terms, apportions part of its lending to climate action. Since 2022 it has sought to help its 37 low-income beneficiary nations navigate the impact of climate change while securing food security and clean energy production.

AFDB NEEDS TO FIND EXTRA SOURCES OF CASH

The Trump administration has also slashed funding for other multilateral institutions. Last May, it decreased its commitment to the World Bank's International Development Association by $800 million to $3.2 billion.

Since Trump's return to the White House a year ago, Washington has distanced itself from global climate action, including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.

The Trump administration's decision to shun G20 activities under South Africa's presidency last year was partially attributed to Pretoria's push to have climate change on the agenda.

Washington's financial pullback, which includes the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has been keenly felt in Africa in areas like health and humanitarian services, development experts say. Countries such as Somalia have said the consequences of the shuttering of USAID had been severe with the impact felt across dozens of development projects in nations from Kenya to Mali.

AFDB TURNS TO AFRICA, INNOVATIVE FINANCE TO PLUG GAP

Replenished every three years, the ADF has provided $45 billion to poor African nations since 1972, financing irrigation, roads and electricity projects.

Its prominence has grown as heavy debt burdens, shrinking aid and tighter global financing conditions limit governments' access to funds.

To fill the gap left by Washington, the AfDB has turned to its African members, many of whom contributed to the ADF for the first time.

African member states of the Abidjan-based lender pledged $182.7 million, with Madagascar, Kenya, Zambia and Ivory Coast making their first-ever contributions.

Donor nations that offered more cash during the December conference included Denmark and Norway.

The AfDB also plans to raise funds for the ADF with $1 billion from market borrowing. The ADF is in the process of securing a credit rating in order to go to the market in the next two years.