The bank head, Akinwumi Adesina, is directing efforts to help Zimbabwe pay off debt of more than $8bn (£6.4bn) to foreign countries.

Zimbabwe has turned to the African bank to help paying billions of dollars in compensation to the white farmers, who had their land seized by the previous government of Robert Mugabe from 2000.

Zimbabwe is seeking to raise $3.5bn to pay for improvements to machinery and buildings on farms - the government have refused to compensate for the land itself.

The country has over $14bn of external debt and has not received funding from lenders, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for more than 20 years as a result.