New AfDB President sees Soverign Wealth Funds as a Risk Mitigant

African nations, stung by plunging commodity prices, should set up more sovereign wealth funds to help withstand the next downturn, said Akinwumi Adesina, the African Development Bank’s new president. The funds “will allow countries to have fiscal buffers and liquidity buffers to this kind of shock,” said Adesina, 55, who took charge of the lender on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports. “It’s not the only one we’re going to see, there’s still going to be a lot of disquiet in the market going forward.” Nigeria, Angola and Ghana in West Africa, have sovereign wealth funds, while countries including Kenya and Tanzania, in the east, are considering the idea to store savings from oil and gas exports as they develop deposits on a commercial scale.