Annual Meetings (AM) 2026: “Africa has what It takes” - Experts call for stronger financial systems to help Africa mobilise capital at scale

(MENAFN- News.Africa-Wire) BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of the Congo, May 30, 2026/ -- Experts at a high-level African Development Bank () panel on Wednesday, 27 May, said stronger, more integrated financial systems will be critical to helping Africa mobilise development finance at scale in a fragmented global environment.
Moderated by Hassatou N’Sele, Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the African Development Bank Group, the session brought together heads of financial institutions, supervisory and regulatory authorities, central bankers, and legal and development finance experts from Africa and beyond.
The session was one of four knowledge events organised as part of the African Development Bank’s 2026 Annual Meetings, taking place in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Under the theme, “Strengthening and Consolidating Africa’s Financial Systems and Agency in the Changing World,” panelists examined how to unlock more domestic and development finance for the continent.
N’Sele invited Nobumitsu Hayashi, Governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, to open the discussion with lessons from Asia’s experience. “Japan is a consistent and long-term partner for development in Africa,” she said.
Hayashi said Japan’s post-Second World War financial recovery and Asia’s recovery from the 1990s financial crisis underscored the importance of regional financial integration, strong domestic markets, and local-currency bond markets, supported by credit guarantee mechanisms.
“We are doing a lot of financial integration, because (it is) the real driver of sustained economic growth within the Asian countries,” Hayashi said.
The discussion focused on how development partners can help build integrated domestic financial systems, how insurance and guarantee instruments can unlock long-term capital, and how legal and regulatory reforms can strengthen Africa’s financial architecture.
Panelists also pointed to the African Development Bank’s New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD) as a timely initiative to help address Africa’s annual development financing gap, estimated at $400 billion.
The panel: Dieudonné Fikiri Alimasi, First Deputy-Governor of the Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Michel Dzombala, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC); Ngueto Tiraïna Yambaye, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee and Economic Cooperation Fund (FAGACE); Manuel Moses, Chief Executive Officer, African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), Kalidou Gadio, Co-Chair of US-Africa Practice, DLA Piper, USA; Cedrick Motetcho, Chief of Business Development, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA); and Carlos Lopes, Honorary Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town.

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