- The African Development Bank (AfDB) has exceeded its mobilisation target for the Just Green Transition (JGT) initiative, raising $2.3 billion to help address Egypt’s climate woes.
- Initially, AfDB had set a target of $1.4 billion for the programme aimed at building the resilience of vulnerable systems and promoting sustainable development.
- JGT initiative has a pipeline of investment-ready projects worth $14.8 billion to tackle the water-food-energy nexus.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has surpassed its mobilisation target for The Just Green Transition (JGT) initiative after raising $2.3 billion which will be invested in tackling climate change-related challenges in Egypt.
The financial institution had initially set a target of $1.4 billion for the initiative to build resilience of vulnerable systems and promote sustainable development in the country.
Already, the Just Green Transition (JGT) initiative has a pipeline of investment-ready projects worth $14.8 billion to tackle the nexus on water, food and energy, which are critical elements of human well-being, the fight against poverty and sustainable development.
The African Development Bank was asked to lead mobilisation of financing for the water pillar projects.
Speaking while he visited Egypt ahead of the Bank Group’s 2023 Annual Meetings scheduled for 22-26 May, President of AfDB Group Dr Akinwumi Adesina lauded Egypt’s bold efforts to tap into private sector finance to power her green growth programmes.
A total of 13 Heads of State and Government are expected to join the bank’s governors, executive directors, development partners and management at the meetings to discuss mobilising private sector financing for climate change adaptation and green growth in Africa.
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi lauded AfDB Group in helping the continent to deal with the impact of global economic challenges, noting that Egypt is set to enhance cooperation with the lender in various development sectors.
Dr Adesina was accompanied by the bank’s Chief Economist and Vice President Professor Kevin Urama and the Secretary General, Professor Vincent Nmehielle. Others at the meeting included the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hassan Abdallah, Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability Rami Aboul Naja and Deputy Governor for External Affairs Mannullah Farid.
Quality infrastructure
During the visit, Adesina met with the Governor of South Sinai Governorate, Major General (Rt) Khaled Fouda who said the city of Sharm El Sheikh is ready to host over 2,000 delegates who will be attending the bank’s annual meetings next month.
Adesina said the bank was impressed by the infrastructure and facilities the Egypt had established in Sharm El-Sheikh, which successfully hosted last year’s United Nation’s backed talks on climate change, COP 27,
“The infrastructure you have developed in Sharm El-Sheikh is amazing. It’s world class. The city is constantly changing, putting green growth at the heart of its development. It’s an example of how successful financing of municipalities and other sub-national entities can deliver impactful social economic development,” the bank chief said, adding “Other African countries can learn from Sharm El-Sheikh.”
Dr Adesina also met with diplomats representing the bank’s shareholders and development partners in Egypt. He said the bank was committed to supporting countries across the continent to achieve accelerated development despite the recent economic shocks and geopolitical tensions affecting them.
Read: Kenya’s HF Group back to profitability making $1.9Mn in 2022
“It is a very difficult world to be dealing with, and so as African Development Bank, our role is to support the accelerated development of African countries in financing their economic and social development agenda, and also building the resilience of their economies. We help African countries to be able to deal with the series of shocks—whether it is climate, whether it is debt, whether it is recovering from the Covid-19 situation, or whether it is investing in the things they need for structural transformation of their economies,” he explained.
Present at the event were Egypt’s Minister for International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat; Deputy Assistant Minister for Regional Economic Organizations Ebtisam Rakha; the Acting Central Bank Governor of Egypt, Mr Hassan Abdallah, who is also the Governor for Egypt of the African Development Bank; Dr Mohamadou Labarang, Cameroon Ambassador and dean of African Ambassadors in Egypt; and the bank’s Executive Director Nomoto Takaaki.
Policymakers in Egypt are planning to issue a green bond in the Chinese capital markets by end of June, this year. The Green Panda Bond with a face value of $500 million will be issued in Chinese Renminbi.
Dr Adesina said, “This will be the first time for an African country to issue a bond in the Chinese capital markets.”
The bank’s Board will in the next couple of months discuss Egypt’s request to provide a partial credit guarantee of $345 million to support the issuance of the bond.
The Green Panda Bond will be the latest among several other bonds that Egypt has issued since 2020 when it launched its Green Financing Framework.
The bank chief also commended Egypt for its commitment to increasing the role of the private sector in the economy.
Early this year, Egypt set in motion a plan to privatise 32 state-owned entities worth $40 billion over the next four years as authorities seek to reduce the footprint of the public sector in the economy and provide more room to private sector players to flourish.
This year, AfDB plans to provide the country $133 million to deal with macroeconomic instability caused by the continuing global crisis marked by high inflation, supply chain woes due to the war in Ukraine and high fuel prices. Last year, the bank provided $272 million policy-based operation in supporting Egypt’s efforts to tackle the impact of the crisis.
‘
