The African Development Bank and the World Bank have clashed over the latter's comments on lending to African countries.
World Bank President David Malpass on Monday said that some development banks such as the African Development Bank were making already challenging bad situations worse by lending easily to heavily indebted countries.
Malpass was speaking at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund debt forum in Washington where he cited the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as the main culprits contributing to debt problems.
Nigeria and South Africa were mentioned by the World Bank president as countries that have suffered AfDB 'easy lending'.
The AfDB has refused to take the comments lying down saying that the comments are inaccurate, not based on fact undermines the bank's governance systems.
In a statement, the AfDB argued that it was actually World Bank that has a higher debt exposure on the African continent.
"The World Bank, with a more substantial balance sheet, has significantly larger operations in Africa than the African Development Bank. The World Bank's operations approved for Africa in the 2018 fiscal year amounted to $20.2 billion, compared to $10.1 billion by the African Development Bank," AfDB said in a statement.
With regard to Nigeria and South Africa, the World Bank's outstanding loans for the 2018 fiscal year to both countries stood at $8.3 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. This was in comparison to AfDB's $2.1 billion (Nigeria) and $2.0 billion, (South Africa) for the same fiscal year.
AfDB said that the World Bank ought to have explored other available platforms to discuss debt concerns among Multilateral Development Banks before blaming them for further fueling the debt crisis.
"The general statement by the President of the World Bank Group insinuating that the African Development Bank contributes to Africa's debt problem and that it has lower standards of lending is simply put: misleading and inaccurate," the AfDB statement read.
Source: New Times:

Manufacturers and dealers of some single-use plastic products have appealed for more time so they can adjust and avoid financial losses.
There are about 20 single-use plastics banned in Rwanda.
Wholesalers, retailers and consumers were given a three-month grace period in October last year to stop using single-use plastic products while factories that produce the banned products were given a two-year grace period.
Now, manufacturers have requested that the grace period be extended for wholesalers, retailers and factories to get alternatives without incurring losses.
Anitha Urayeneza, the Managing Director of NBG Ltd that produces straws in Gasabo District, told The New Times that she invested Rwf250 million to start the factory three years ago and added that until now she has not yet paid back a loan she acquired.
"I have not yet started to really make tangible profits since I have not yet even finished paying back the bank loan. It requires me at least three years to finish paying back the loan. This means if straws are banned in wholesalers and retailers now, I will have no market in the two-year grace period that runs out in 2021.
I think a 5-year grace period is better for manufacturers like me to pay back the loans we acquired from banks and find alternatives to single-use plastics," she said.
Urayeneza added that if she gets at least five years, she could be able to switch from environment polluting straws to producing environmentally friendly straws, which need at least Rwf600 million because it would mean using new machines and technology to produce the straws.
The company employs 30 permanent workers who could lose jobs if it is not facilitated in transition. It has been producing at least 1,000 boxes of straws per day.
One box contains 12 packs of straws while one pack contains 200 straws. This means the factory produces 2.4 million straws per day.
She said that if the grace period is extended, they will set up mechanisms to collect the straws and supply them to recycling companies.
"Some companies can recycle them into pavers, sacks and they are already collecting them for recycling".
She emphasised that factories, wholesalers and retailers should be given more grace period to empty products from stores.
"You cannot tell a wholesaler to stop the business and then tell the factory to continue operating for two years. Where can we sell the products?" she said.
Dealers
The New Times visited different shops and supermarkets in Kimironko and found single-use plastic products in stores.
Jean-Paul Kamali, who sells single-use plastic items at Simba supermarket, Kimironko branch said: "I suggest they extend the deadline to empty the stores since most of us were not aware of the deadline. The other thing is that local manufacturers and importers should first be targeted to stop producing and supplying to us. If they stop, we will empty products we already have from our stores and then totally stop trading in these products," he said.
A pack of 200 plastic straws at Simba Supermarket costs Rwf700, a pack of single-use plastic knives stands at Rwf1,800, while a pack of 25 single-use plastic plates goes for Rwf2,000.
There were also forks, cups and items.
"We can totally stop if they are no longer produced and supplied to us," he said.
Emmanuel Turatsinze, who owns a shop in Kimironko, added that he sells over 20 packs of plastic straws per week.
However, he reiterated, "I heard last year that they could be banned and I thought it would take like a year. But if factories and importers stop supplying, we will also stop. What we need is to supply us the alternatives or products that are environmentally friendly so that we continue to serve clients."
Source: New Times

THE annual banks' credit to agriculture sector grew by 90.1 per cent in the year ended December 2019 compared to negative 16.0 per cent in the corresponding year on account of government measures to improve business environment.
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review January shows that lenders' appetite to agriculture sector is high than in other sectors namely building and construction as well as mining and quarrying.
"The central bank's accommodative monetary policy and measures to improve business environment have played key role in increasing commercial lenders appetite to agriculture sector," stated the report.
Commercial lenders positive attitude towards agriculture sector is welcomed and according to analysts would yield huge impacts to the country's economy.
The credit flow to agriculture sector is set to increase as long as most commercial lenders for efforts to de-risk agricultural finance by addressing both individual and systematic risks.
Most commercial lenders have for years regarded agriculture sector as a high risk business to lend, leaving it financially underserved.
The increased lending will bring about huge impact to the agriculture sector that employs about 70 per cent of the country's workforce and contributes at least 30 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
During the period under review, the composition of credit outstanding to agriculture expanded by 9.5 per cent from 9.4 per cent in the corresponding period 2018.
Other sectors that registered strong annual growth rate of banks credit apart from agriculture are building and construction 72.6 per cent compared to negative 23.2 per cent of the corresponding period 2018.
Banks' credit to mining and quarrying grew by 13.2 per cent in the period under review compared to 28.2 per cent in the corresponding period.
Also banks' credit extended to personal grew by 9.3 per cent compared to 54.0 per cent of the corresponding period 2018. The banks' credit to manufacturing sector grew by negative 0.8 per cent compared to 17.5 per cent in 2018.
Credit to the private sector recorded an annual growth of 11.1 percent in December last year compared with 4.9 percent in the corresponding period 2018.
The sustained growth of credit to the private sector is supported by the accommodative monetary policy and ongoing measures implemented by the government to improve business environment.
During the reference period, domestic credit by the banking system grew by 6.2 percent in 2019 compared with 10.1 percent a year earlier.
The slow growth was attributed to the decline in credit extended to the Government, largely due to buildup of government deposits at the BoT following increase in revenue collection and streamlined expenditure.
Source: Allafrica.com