Browsing: African Development Bank

Urging unity and action to accelerate nutrition targets amid the global Covid-19 pandemic, representatives of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), the Aliko Dangote Foundation and Big Win Philanthropy renewed their commitment to end child stunting and other forms of malnutrition through the Banking on Nutrition Partnership (https://bit.ly/3wEhp4H).

The partners convened during a high-level panel discussion held on 8 July, organized by the African Development Bank. They shared lessons learned, experiences, achievements of the Banking on Nutrition Partnership since its inception five years ago. They also discussed its implementation within the African Development Bank and its Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan, as well as measures to encourage other organizations and development banks to integrate nutrition into their portfolios.

“The Bank is relentless in pursuing bold targets to unlock Africa’s human and economic potential. It is our aim to inspire other actors to recognize nutrition as central to that …

A global coalition of public development banks today emphasized the urgency of immediate resources for Africa’s recovery post-Covid 19. Together, they committed to deepening cooperation to boost investment opportunities across the continent.

Participants in the meeting, hosted by the African Development Bank, brainstormed on joint actions that could help boost a strong and inclusive recovery in Africa. This would be recovery grounded in a dynamic private sector. The African Association of Development Finance Institutions co-organized the meeting in collaboration with the International Development Finance Club, which is hosted by the Agence Française de Développement.

The meeting was held virtually and follows the first Finance in Common Summit held in November 2020. At that summit, public development banks committed to work together to support the transformation of the global economy and society towards sustainable and resilient development.

During the three principal sessions of the meeting, heads of public development banks and …

The Boards of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) Group on Friday approved a proposal for the clearance of about $413 million in arrears on loans owed by Sudan to the institution, marking a major milestone in the country’s re-engagement with international financial institutions and the global economy.

The proposal enables the Bank to proceed with clearing Sudan’s arrears with the African Development Bank Group, with the support of the United Kingdom and Sweden. The U.K will provide bridge financing to clear Sudan’s arrears to the African Development Fund, while Sweden has committed to providing grant financing of about $4.2 million to meet Sudan’s burden-share for the operation.

Upon full clearance of the arrears to the Bank group, sanctions on Sudan will be lifted and a Policy-Based Operation (PBO) will be provided to the country as part of the Bank’s full re-engagement, to complement on-going Bank operations.

Clearing of …

The African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program agreed to partner with the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) to provide $1.3 to 2 billion in loans to women-owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, by working with financial institutions to enhance their ability to lend to women.

This comes after the launch of AFAWA’s Guarantee for Growth (G4G) program whose objective is to make available up to $3 billion in financing for women entrepreneurs through de-risking and technical assistance measures. Financial institutions in  Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda are signing on to the program.

“As the implementing partner of AFAWA’s Guarantee for Growth program, we are already observing an increased appetite from banks for this innovative product that seeks to support women entrepreneurs. We have recently signed agreements with leading banks on the continent who are keen to increase their …

The government of Uganda and The African Development Bank signed an agreement worth $500,000 to finance Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) so as to boost business linkages on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Technical Assistance project.

The bank will contribute the funds through the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) while the Government of Uganda through the Petroleum Authority will provide counterpart funding. A similar project is also being finalised in Tanzania.

The key objective of the grant is to help develop the capacity of local Uganda MSMEs along the East African crude oil pipeline by helping them to build linkages with larger, national, regional and international companies as well as accessing new market opportunities.

The project aims to create an estimated 500 jobs along the pipeline and support inclusive private sector growth.

According to the African development bank, “the grant was provided in response to a …

The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors approved $27.33 million in grants to help the African Union (AU)  to mobilize a continental response to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. (Canadian Pharmacy)

African Development Bank

This approval follows a pledge to support the AU’s COVID-19 initiative by the Bank’s president Akinwumi Adesina, during a meeting of the extended Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector in April 2020, chaired by the President of South Africa and chairperson of the AU, Cyril Ramaphosa.

The meeting called for contributions towards the African Union’s COVID-19 Response Fund established by Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat,  AU Commission chairperson in March 2020.

Speaking after the Board approval of this operation, President Adesina said: “With this financing package, we are reaffirming our strong commitment to a coordinated African response in the face of COVID-19. Most importantly, we are …

The African Development Bank approved a grant of $27.4 to boost the efforts of the African Union (AU) to mobilize continental response to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

“With this financing package, we are reaffirming our strong commitment to a coordinated African response in the face of COVID-19. Most importantly, we are sending a strong signal that collectively, the continent can address the pandemic in Africa, which is straining health systems and causing unprecedented socio-economic impacts on the continent.” Said Akinwumi Adesina, African Development Bank President after the approval of the funds.

About $26.03 million of the grant will help strengthen the institutional capacity of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to respond to public health emergencies across the continent. The remaining balance of about $1.37 million will be a contribution to the AU COVID-19 Response Fund.

The two grants are from the bank’s African …

Partners of the  Africa Investment Forum said the increased and decisive investment will be the channel for Africa’s economic recovery post-COVID-19.

The partners expressed their confidence in Africa’s potential to recover from the ongoing crises in the economy and health.

“Africa will come out of this pandemic, tough as it is, and will build better and stronger economies. As partners of the Africa Investment Forum, the premier investment platform for Africa, our gaze must be clear; help Africa reboot its economy,” said African Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina, during a two-day virtual meeting for Africa Investment Forum founding, institutional and knowledge partners.

During the virtual meeting, the Africa Investment Forum revealed 15 projects under its Unified COVID-19 Response identified across five sectors for priority funding consideration. The five sectors include energy, agriculture and agro-processing, health, ICT and telecoms and industrial and trade.

The 15 deals are from the forum’s …

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank board of directors approved €88 million in loans to Cameroon to finance COVID-19 crisis response. 

The loan to Cameroon’s COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Programme (PABRC) is under the bank’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF) of up to $10 billion which is meant to cushion the impact of the pandemic on health and economy of African Countries. 

For instance, the pandemic has shown the structural weakness of Cameroon’s health system and economy and mostly the limited human and financial resources allocated to the health sector. 

Also Read: AfDB president woos UK investors to take advantage of AfCFTA

The COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Programme (PABRC) aims at checking the spread of the virus, save lives and control the impact on the socio-economy of the country. 

The programme will ensure the reduction of case fatality and improving the …

African Green Resources (AGR) in Zambia launched an $81 million financing programme on Sunday, whereby the company and its partner are slated to provide farm supplies and technology to farmers in exchange for grain

According to information from Reuters, the company chairperson Zuneid Yousuf said in a statement that, AGR plans to invest $150 million in the country, for projects including a 50-megawatt solar farm and irrigation dam, AGR will target 120 commercial farmers and 250,000 small and middle farmers with the new programme to boost food security in Zambia and the surrounding region.

However, the scheme—will cover 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser for wheat and soya farming worth $55 million and $26 million for projects such as the expansion of grain storage silos.

Hence, the scheme will be financed through regional and global banks, with the money repaid from the produce the programme yields

This scheme could be one of …