Regional financial institutional strengthening and the imperative of more disciplined development borrowing dominated the 24th Annual General Meeting of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development held in Accra, as member-states heard calls to significantly scale the Bank\u2019s ambitions while confronting the gap between capital commitments made and obligations actually met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting\u2019s keynote address, delivered by Seth Terkper, Presidential Advisor on the Economy, on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama \u2013 who was in Lyon attending the 2026 One Health Summit \u2013 described the gathering as a moment of reckoning for how the region finances itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are meeting at a defining moment in its shared history, a moment when the global financial architecture is shifting,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCapital\u201d, President Mahama warned, \u201cis becoming increasingly selective and risk pricing has tightened,\u201d making continued dependence on external long-term financing an increasingly unreliable foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The remedy prescribed by President Mahama is a fundamental \u2018reset\u2019 in the region\u2019s approach to development finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EBID, he argued, must evolve. \u201cThe Bank must move from being a supporting bank to a systems-driven one and move from modest billions into the upper balance of billions of dollars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
West Africa\u2019s transformation, he further stated, must be financed increasingly from within the region, with capital realigned from a bank of support to a bank of scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Terkper, who served as Finance Minister during Mahama\u2019s first administration between 2012 and 2017, reinforced the President\u2019s argument with a pointed observation drawn from Ghana\u2019s own recent fiscal history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe time to prepare for a crisis is not during the crisis itself but when the times are good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His remarks carried pointed weight in light of the swinging pendulum that has been the local and global economy over the past half-decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, the period has been defined by a succession of compounding shocks \u2014 the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruption of supply chains; the Russia-Ukraine war and the energy and food price spirals it unleashed\u2019 the aggressive monetary tightening cycle that followed across advanced economies; and more recently the turbulence induced by the United States\u2019 sweeping tariff offensive under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closer to home, Ghana and much of West Africa navigated the consequences of those external shocks against a backdrop of already elevated public debt, weakening currencies and constrained fiscal space \u2013 culminating in the debt exchange and restructuring that reshaped the country\u2019s financial sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the nation closed first quarter-2026 on a sound footing with inflation at 3.2 percent for March and external reserves at US$14.5billion (5.8 months of import cover), geopolitical developments in the Gulf region have raised cause for concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US-Iran military conflict, which triggered what the International Energy Agency described as the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market \u2013 sending Brent crude surging past US$120 per barrel before a two-week ceasefire announced by President Trump on Tuesday, conditional on Iran\u2019s agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 caused Brent to plunge roughly 14 percent to around US$94 a barrel, its sharpest single-day fall in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gold, which had rallied sharply as a safe-haven and inflation hedge during the conflict, also retreated \u2013 dropping to around US$4,705 per ounce as the war premium that had been supporting prices evaporated, though analysts cautioned that the ceasefire\u2019s two-week horizon left significant uncertainty in both markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consequently, Mr. Terkper called for greater deployment of domestic instruments \u2013 municipal and local-currency bonds in particular \u2013 and for private capital to be crowded in through deeper partnerships with regional stock exchanges and leading local companies, rather than recycling financing obligations outward to external creditors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Finance Minister and outgoing Chairman of the EBID Board of Governors, gave the institutional strengthening agenda its sharpest edge. A 2022 Board decision had raised EBID\u2019s authorised capital from US$1.5billion to US$3.5billion and a third tranche of subscriptions worth US$411.4million, with a December 2025 deadline for full payment. That deadline has passed with the obligation largely unmet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo date, only four member-states \u2013 namely, Ghana, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Guinea and Togo \u2013 have fully met their obligations. While US$102.5million was received in 2025, outstanding arrears still stand at approximately US$256million,\u201d Dr. Forson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The implication for the Bank\u2019s operating capacity was direct, he added: \u201cTimely capital payments are critical. They strengthen EBID\u2019s leverage and sustains its growth and impact across our region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The disclosure stood in contrast to an otherwise strong performance report. Dr. Forson acknowledged the difficult operating environment, describing 2025\u2019s global economy as defined by a \u2018Great Wedge\u2019 \u2013 a divergence in growth dynamics between economies surging on artificial intelligence investment and those weighed down by trade policy volatility and weak external demand \u2013 before noting that the Bank had nonetheless risen above it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEBID did not just weather the storm \u2013 we rose above it,\u201d he said. The balance sheet expanded from US$1.97billion in 2024 to US$2.39billion by end-2025, while profitability rose 13.3 percent to US$9.75million. Project approvals increased by 50 percent and commitments surged by over 83 percent to US$813.77million, with energy and transport infrastructure the primary beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur decisions will shape the economic future of our Bank and West Africa. The expectations of our citizens are high. They look to us for results. The future will only be built by deliberate and collective action,\u201d Dr. Forson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EBID President and Board Chairman Dr. George Agyekum Donkor provided the operational detail underpinning those figures. New disbursements in 2025 reached US$722million, a 47.7 percent increase on the prior year \u2013 lifting the Bank\u2019s annual disbursement rate to approximately 26.5 percent from 20.4 percent in 2024. The Bank appraised 25 projects worth US$1.4billion, a 55.81 percent increase in value on 2024 \u2013 and mobilised over US$510million and \u20ac310million in resources from development partners during the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moody\u2019s and Fitch reaffirmed the Bank\u2019s ratings at B2-Stable and B-Stable respectively and the Bank secured accreditation with the Green Climate Fund, opening new pathways to climate finance for member-states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the medium-term, Dr. Donkor outlined EBID\u2019s GRO Strategy for 2026\u20132030 which is anchored on growth, resilience and optimisation. It commits to directing at least 63 percent of new commitments toward private enterprises and dedicating over 41 percent of resources to climate mitigation and social development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bank, he added, is targetting the mobilisation of approximately US$2billion to diversify its funding base and is working toward strategic partnerships with the African Development Bank and Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, moves Dr. Donkor described as potentially game-changing for EBID\u2019s credit standing and resource mobilisation capacity. A second regional office is planned for Abuja in 2026, following the opening of an office in Abidjan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The urgency behind calls to scale is grounded in a widening structural deficit. West Africa\u2019s annual infrastructure financing gap was estimated at between US$20billion and US$36billion as recently as 2022 \u2013 a figure that has grown as climate adaptation, energy transition and digital connectivity demands have accelerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governments across the region have historically depended on international development partners to fund capital projects, in part because large shares of national budgets are committed to recurrent expenditure \u2013 leaving limited fiscal room for infrastructure investment. Against that backdrop, an institution disbursing US$722million annually, however improved, remains a modest instrument relative to the scale of regional need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n