Browsing: African Development Bank (AfDB)

Africa’s economic growth remained stable in 2019 at 3.4% and is on course to pick up to 3.9% in 2020, and 4.1% in 2021 as revealed in the African Development Bank’s 2020 African Economic Outlook.

The bank said that the slower than expected growth is partly due to the moderate expansion Africa’s Big five such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa – whose joint growth rate compared with the average of 4.0% for the rest of the continent was at an average rate of 3.1%.

In 2019, investment expenditure for the first time in a decade accounted for over 50% of GDP growth compared to consumption.

The bank noted that the shift can aid in sustaining and potentially speeding the future growth in Africa, increase current and future productive base in Africa while improving the productivity of the workforce.

Also Read: Africa can no longer be ignored- AfDB

African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a $22 million Senior Loan to help corporate leasing company (Corplease) expand its lending to SMEs in Egypt.

The decision signalled confidence in the growing local market and in Egypt’s economy as a whole.
Out of the $22 million, African Development Bank will mobilize $7 million from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), a co-financing fund, established with the People’s Bank of China.

Corplease is a leading non-bank financial institution that provides diverse leasing products and services to SMEs and larger corporates, through sale, direct leasing and leaseback, as well as structured finance products. to address funding constraints in the private sector in Egypt, corp lease seeks to provide alternative financing through leases.

Also Read: African Development Bank $1m grant to Burundi

“The need for leasing products in Egypt is growing consistently on an annual basis to meet the acute demand by small, medium and …

The UK-Africa Investment Summit held on Monday saw attendance from dignitaries and delegates from 16 African countries, including President El Sisi of Egypt and Boris Johnson British Prime Minister.

During his opening speech, Prime Minister Johnson said “Look around the world today and you will swiftly see that the UK is not only the obvious partner of choice, we’re also very much the partner of today, of tomorrow and decades to come,”

He referred to Africa as a booming continent with “staggering levels of growth”

Also Read: Seven African climate-resilient projects get ACCF funding

This was the first UK-Africa Investment Summit hosted by the UK Government. It was attended by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, the international development secretary, Alok Sharma and Prince Harry.

A plenary panel discussion on ‘Sustainable Finance and Infrastructure – Unlocking the City of London and UK financial services for growth in Africa’ was discussed by …

The French Development Agency (AFD) is to provide about $30 Million through its African Guarantee Fund (AGF) for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

The fund is meant to help improve access to credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout Africa.

The sub-participation agreement of the $30 million funds was signed by Mr Rémy Rioux, AFD Chief Executive Officer and Mr Félix Bikpo, AGF Group Chief Executive.

The agreement signed between AFD and AGF broadens the existing cooperation between the two entities, by providing AGF with a counter-guarantee of $30 million, using the ARIZ risk-sharing mechanism which is a support for the risk of financing private investment.

The risk-sharing mechanism is in a final loss guarantee offered to financial institutions by AFD to cover 50 per cent to 75 per cent of an individual loan or a loan portfolio for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and SMEs.

The counter-guarantee will enable AGF to …

The African Development Fund (ADF) the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has just got a boost from donor amounting to $7.6 billion which is a 32 per cent raise from the previous replenishment, AfDB press release reads.

The boost which came to fruition on Thursday 5 December 2019, comes as a good sign to the funding landscape in the bank, showing how AfDB commands trust and further the development funding sphere in Africa.

About the ADF

According to AfDB, the ADF which was established 1972 and became operation in 1974, contributes to poverty reduction and economic and social development in the least developed African countries by providing concessional funding for projects and programs, as well as technical assistance for studies and capacity-building activities. The Fund has cumulatively invested up to $45 billion over its 44 years of operationalization on the African continent.

On the same note, the …

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed to explore new avenues of directly supporting efforts aimed at empowering Kenyan women in business.

The commitment was made by the bank’s deputy director general Nnenna Nwabufo during a meeting with Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, on the sidelines of the ongoing Global Gender Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

Ms Nwabufo singled out capacity building activities for Kenyan women in business as one of the areas that the bank is keen on supporting.

READ ALSO:How Kenyan bank is empowering women

“We could do this through capacity building to enable women (Kenyan) to benefit from development projects implemented by the government in partnership with African Development Bank,” Ms Nwabufo said.

Ms Nwabufo, who heads AfDB’s East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery office, assured the First Lady that she is committed to ensuring that women in Kenya gain from the bank’s Affirmative Action for …

Etion limited aims to grow its client network and sell high-tech digital solutions during the Outward Trade and Investment Mission (OTIM) to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The department of Trade and Industry is organizing the OTIM mission whose aim is to profile and market South African expertise and capabilities to an important and strategic Francophone country such as Cote d’Ivoire so as to advance the levels of intra-Africa trade and investment.

Mr Teddy Daka, the Group Chief Executive Officer for Etion, says that the company seeks to identify potential partners that can represent them in the Western African market to achieve their ambitions of growing significantly beyond South African borders.

“As we have never been in Cote d’Ivoire before, this mission will also be a good opportunity to get a view of the economic landscape and to meet with different entities that may be interested in our products and …

Three projects financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for US$121.4 million in 2010-2011 are starting to provide Cameroon with more reliable electricity supply, the bank said.

Although Cameroon has suffered power supply for years, it has the second-largest hydroelectric potential in Africa and the 18th worldwide with an estimated 23,000 MW hydroelectric production capacity.

In a statement given on Thursday, AfDB said the Lom Pangar storage reservoir project was complete, although the dam’s generating plant was still under construction. Two other power plants, Kribi and Dibamba, had begun working to strengthen the country’s generating capacity.

In November 2011, The African development bank awarded $62.9 million for the construction of Lom Pangar in the country’s eastern region and a 30 MW hydroelectric generating plant still under construction at the base of the dam. Lom Pangar will provide electricity to 150 locations and significantly reduce power cuts.

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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will inject $25 million into a new sea cable project that the Western Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) is executing.

IFC’s investment will be in form of equity to partly fund the $235 million new sea cable project located in the east and west coast of Africa and the development of strategically located data centres across the continent.

Telkom Kenya owns nine per cent stake in WIOCC, making it among the largest shareholders in the company. George Mokogi Telco’s Managing Director for carrier services division sits on WIOCC board.

WIOCC included the project as part of the financial years 2019 to 2021 capital expenditure plan which means IFC funding will boost the plan whose cost was mainly to be bared by the shareholders.

World Bank investment arm said with IFC joining it is expected to provide equity that is not available in the market and …

African Development Bank Vice President Mateus Magala told Lusa that Mozambique faces the challenge of putting natural resource gains at the service of inclusive and sustainable development.

“The big challenge for the next decade is how to put these huge natural resources at the service of the accelerated, inclusive and sustainable growth of Mozambique’s economy,” head of AfDB’s Corporate Services and Human Resources, Mateus Magala, said.

Magala is in Mozambique to witness the signing of financing agreements for the Temane – Maputo power transmission line on Wednesday.

Also Read: AfDB joins private equity firm AfricInvest for Africa equity kitty

The AfDB vice president described the current phase in Mozambique as “historic”, marked as it is by announcements of major investments in natural resources and electricity.

“Today, it is a certainty that Mozambique will, in the coming years, be among the largest gas producing countries in the world, opening the doors …