AfDB’s Darkortey Arrives on Assessment Mission -Liberia Portfolio Projects Assessment High on Agenda

MONROVIA – The Executive Director of the African Development Bank, Rufus N. Darkortey, has arrived in Liberia in his official capacity as Executive Director Consultation Mission to Liberia to discuss areas of engagements between the Bank and Liberia

The Consultation Mission will also assess progress of the Bank’s portfolio of projects in the country, while exploring other areas of mutual engagements and support for the Bank, Liberia and the African Continent as a whole.

Liberia is one of five countries within Director Darkortey’s Constituency Member Countries that he oversees on behalf of the AfDB, including The Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

It can be recalled that President Weah on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, approved the nomination of Mr. Rufus N. Darkortey to serve as Executive Director at the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.

Upon the President’s approval of the nomination, the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank on May 26, 2022 elected Mr. Rufus N. Darkortey as the Executive Director for the Constituency representing The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan, which Mr. Darkortey would serve as one of the 20 Board of Directors of the Bank representing 81 countries from across the world to steer the affairs of the Bank.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Darkortey previously worked at the Bank as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the Constituency from 2018 to 2019. He also served as the Alternate Executive Director at the Bank from 2020 up to his election as Executive Director on May 26, 2022.

Additionally, before his approval by the President of Liberia, Mr. Darkortey served as the Senior Economic and Policy Advisor in the Office of the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., with focus on fostering economic, fiscal, monetary, and other development related matters of the country, including public and private sector stakeholders engagements, both at the national and international levels to facilitate the coordination, formulation and implementation of the country’s development plan, the Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD).

Among a plethora of ongoing and completed projects, the Board of directors of the African Development Bank Group in November 2022 approved financing for the Emergency Food Production Program in Liberia, which paved the way for the government to support farmers as they increase climate resilient food production and mitigate the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The funding included a grant of $2.28 million and a loan of $2.84 million from the Bank Group’s Transition Support Facility to support agriculture which is a major part of Liberia’s economy, contributing to about 26% to GDP. The country’s major crops are rubber, rice, cassava, bananas and palm oil, with cassava and rice being the primary staple food crops.