Browsing: AfDB

Micro financing is the go to solution for small businesses as banks tighten lending conditions to stifle Non Performing Loans (NPLs). In Tanzania, as elsewhere, NPLs are no longer a problem for individual banks, rather a national economic problem managed by the Central Bank.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) now provides guidelines for banks to curb NPLs and to help, it has created what is referred to as Credit Reference Bureaus. These bureaus are meant to protect banks against bad credit or more directly, to protect them against bad debtors.

In Tanzania, there are now two credit reference bureaus both meant to protect banks from crippling NPLs. Rather than deal with recovery of bad loans, the bureaus are meant to keep banks from lending to potentially ‘bad debtors.’

Unchecked NPLs could bring a bank to closure, that means affecting all other bank customers, now multiply that across several banks and …

As the rest of the country shuts down all entry ports, heavily reliant on tourism, the spice Isles of Zanzibar are allowing charter flights to land but with strict conditions.

Isles authorities have permitted charter flights bringing tourists to the island to land but on condition that all persons on board enter a 14 days quarantine stay, at their own expense.

This surprising turn of events happens in the backdrop of ongoing global threat of the spread of coronavirus. Even leading sports leagues have been cancelled and regional high profile meetings are been held on conference calls.

Across Africa, the tourism industry has come to an almost complete shutdown. It is time immemorial since a disease stopped people from touring and going for holidays, at least not since the deadly World War I and II power viruses.

With most all African countries eventually succumbing to the threat and finally closing …

After signing a deal with a Rwandan bank to build 2,000 affordable housing units, Shelter Afrique is heading to Senegal in West Africa for a similar deal.

The Pan African housing developer has signed a US$11.6 million line of credit with Senegal’s Teyliom Group for the construction of affordable housing units.

Shelter Afrique says the money will go toward the development of affordable housing with the world-class Diamniadio Lake City (DLC).

The deal with Teyliom Group is the first significant project Shelter Afrique has embarked on in Senegal since 2016 and is the second transaction the Company is making with the Teyliom Group.

When complete, the project is expected to deliver large-scale affordable housing of 3,439 units with selling prices starting at US$26,000 for more than 20,000 individuals and create more than 3,000 jobs, with a sizeable number of those being held by women.

The high-density estate has been designed …

Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic has been endowed by abundant renewable energy that could enhance power generation, and African Development Bank (AfDB) just approved a $34.74 million grant and loan to boost renewable energy access as well as investment in the country.

According to AfDB statement, during the first project (Renewable Energy for Electrification in Liberia) over $ 33 million—in grant from AfDB and strategic climate fund scaling-up renewable energy program, will be targeted at supporting renewable energy sector.

Further, the approved funds will go towards construction of a mini dam on the St. John River in Nimba County in northeastern Liberia and the development of the Gbedin hydropower Falls with a total capacity of 9.34 megawatts of power, to be transmitted through an 8 km, 33kV line connecting 7,000 households.

According to US Agency for International Development (USAID), Liberia has one of the lowest electricity access rates in the …

The expansion of Africa’s economy—exemplified by East Africa’s vibrant economies(Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda) by adopting the manufacturing industry landscape and marrying it with high-end technological developments have both triggered a demand for more power,currently leaning towards renewable energy—all the while grappling with the challenge of high unemployment rates.

The United Nations 25^thConference of Parties (COP 25) on climate change highlighted strictly on nations mitigating greenhouse gas emissions by adapting to renewable energy in their economies.

Morocco and Zambia are now embracing the adoption of wind and solar power with assistance from Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

GCF and AfDB supported Zambia with a $154 million renewable energy fund to finance its framework, and lift the nation from electricity demand challenges, as the country relies on hydropower generation for 90 per cent of its needs.

Renewable energy in Africa could be a mighty saving …

The African Climate Change Fund (ACCF) has given the African climate-resilient a serious boost of $4.7 million to finance seven new project proposals.

According to African Development Bank (AfDB) press release, the project funding is parallel to its  2013 – 2022 strategy  and Climate Change Action Plan 2016 -2020, which are full of top-notch projects addressing climate change challenges.

In that context, AfDB highlighted that the projects on the table were fenced around collaboration with other key placers such as local Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGO’s) operating within the regions, the projects are as follows.

Syntropic agriculture as strategy to foster resilience, climate adaptation and recovery of vulnerable communities living in degraded marine and coastal ecosystems in Mozambique: This project will improve the environmental resilience and economic sustainability of smallholder families in Zambezia Province using scaled-up “gender-oriented eco-governance productive model”; it will be implemented by ICEI, a non-profit organization, and ORAM, …

African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a grant worth $8 million aimed at supporting the preparation of the Ruzizi IV Hydropower Project.

A statement from the Bank shows that the grant was drawn from the European Union’s Africa Investment Platform (EU-AIP).

According to the bank, the plant will be situated on the Ruzizi River between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is expected to supply electricity to the DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda.

About half of Rwandans have access to electricity, and the project comes to strengthen the fast-growing economy energy sector ambition, set on increasing access, stimulating demand and strengthening transmission network.

The project also stands to improve electricity supply status to one the least electrified nation’s in the world, Burundi with access rate standing at 7 per cent. More importantly, the project will impact one of the largest countries in the region, DRC which also has …

Climate change is affecting Africa greatly and it is only contributing 4 per cent of the greenhouses emissions, hence United Nations Economic Commission Agency for Africa (UNECA) highlights that just by early 2030 Africa will start experiencing macroeconomics losses.

On the same mark, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is in assisting the continent’s efforts towards mitigating and adapting climate risks, particularly extreme weather events, and gaining resilience on drought via mobilization of crucial funding for such adaptation and mitigation projects.

AfDB (which is accredited by the international implementing agency since March 2016 by Green Climate Fund- GCF) together with GCF have successfully mobilized over $12 billion of climate finance to support climate resilience and low-carbon emission in the continent.

Despite the efforts are taken by Africa in that manner have not yielded significant results compared to other regions, still—AfDB eyes another opportunity to fuel more resources to African countries via …

The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference COP 25, has levitated the climate action landscape in Africa

This has led to the African Development Bank (AfDB) to join forces with 11 other international organizations to assist developing countries to build resilience against the impact of natural disasters caused by extreme weather.

The initiative comes at a rather perfect moment, especially when the region is faced with unprecedented catastrophic weather events affecting the continent’s economy.

According to AfDB, the institutions came together at the COP 25 climate change conference in Madrid on Tuesday to launch the Alliance for Hydromet Development.

Alliance for Hydromet Development

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Alliance for Hydromet (hydrological and climate services) Development brings together major international development, humanitarian and climate finance institutions, collectively committed to scale up and unite efforts to close the hydromet capacity gap by 2030. It aims to increase …

The East African Community has for long earmarked the linking of partner countries through roads. One of this link is the link road that connects the coastal towns of Mombasa and Tanga, touching the lives of thousands of commuters and transporting goods and services worth millions.

Recently, the EAC announced that it has increased its funding for key projects from various donors among the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), which has now approved this project.

The Bank’s support for the Mombasa-Lunga Lunga/Horohoro and Tanga-Pangani-Bagamoyo roads Phase I, is in the form of African Development Bank and African Development Fund loans and represents 78.5% of the total €399.7 million project cost.  The European Union contributed a grant of €30 million, 7.7% of the total project cost, to the government of Kenya.

The road is a key component of the East African transport corridors network, connecting Kenya and Tanzania. Producers, manufacturers and traders …