Browsing: African Development Bank

According to the World Bank, the annual SME credit gap in Sub Saharan Africa is about US$330 million. MSMEs are often neglected by lenders due to a combination of factors.

These include the high cost of customer acquisition and due diligence, insufficient data availability for accurate credit assessments, lack of collaterals, uncertain customer lifetime values, and the high costs of distribution and servicing. There is a large opportunity for lenders who are able to overcome these challenges.…

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB.org) have launched a call for applications for the first edition of the African Youth Adaptation Solutions (YouthAdapt) Challenge.

The call encourages young entrepreneurs, innovators from micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and other youth-led and youth-owned enterprises in Africa, to implement solutions for building resilience and adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change. Young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 are invited to respond to the call for the expression of interest and submit their business plan through the official submission portal (https://bit.ly/3kaii1J).

With a strong focus on youth and gender, winners of the YouthAdapt Challenge will be awarded business grants of up to $100,000 each and the opportunity to participate in a 12-month business accelerator program to help them scale up their businesses, deepen their impact and create decent jobs.  …

On the brighter side, this trade potential could double if African countries address challenges in infrastructure and corruption which have continually hampered the ‘Africa rising’ narrative. 

By making Africa the world’s largest trade area, the AfCFTA is expected to further improve Africa’s bargaining power with the rest of the world. This is with regard to the quality of goods produced as well as market entry of imported goods. …

Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed the African Development Bank’s (www.AfDB.org) credit rating at ‘AAA’, with a stable outlook.

Fitch said the triple-A rating was driven by the ‘extraordinary support’ of the Bank’s shareholders.

Fitch views the Bank’s risk-management policies as ‘conservative’ and assesses them as ‘excellent’, in line with AAA-rated peers. “Concentration risk is ‘low’, with the bank’s five largest exposures accounting for 32% of total banking portfolio at end-2020.”

Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala, Vice President for Finance and Chief Finance Officer of the African Development Bank, said: “The affirmation of the Bank’s triple-A ratings by Fitch, recognizes the very strong shareholder support our institution benefits from, as well as its strong capitalization and risk management capabilities. The affirmation also speaks to the importance of the Bank’s public policy mandate, particularly during these very challenging times.”

The global ratings agency assesses the Bank’s overall exposure to …

AfCFTA will diversify exports, accelerate growth and it will competitively integrate into the global economy. This will increase foreign direct investment (FDI), increase employment opportunities and incomes while also broadening economic inclusion.

Projected estimates show that the FTA will increase Africa’s exports by US$560 billion with manufacturing accounting for the lion’s share. While has had limited trade within itself, the agreement will see intra-continental exports increase by 81 per cent and by 19 per cent to non-African countries.…

Covid-19 has hit small businesses hardest and around the world, many are either still struggling or they have already shut down almost two years after the pandemic started.

The pandemic has caused large-scale loss of life and severe human suffering globally and as the largest public health crisis in our time, the pandemic has also generated a major economic crisis. 2020 saw a halt in production in affected countries, a collapse in consumption and confidence, and stock exchanges responding negatively to heightened uncertainties.

In Africa, things are no different and despite the hit by the pandemic, a June 2021 African Development Bank (AfDB) White Paper, Entrepreneurship and Free Trade: Africa’s Catalysts for a New Era of Economic Prosperity, states that entrepreneurship must be at the heart of efforts to transform Africa’s economic prospects.

Read: Why Kenya’s small businesses are choking

The Covid-19 crisis has triggered shifts that open up …

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 …

The AfDB notes that high commodity prices have played a role in seeing the African economy’s take off but not only so, macroeconomic policies and sustained reform have also helped improved the growth. Other key factors that have contributed to this growth include stronger governance and better conditions for private sector development.
A damper to the rallying growth of the African economy is conflict which remains a concern though incidences have declined which has reduced the contagion for neighbouring countries and boosting investor confidence in many regions. …

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 …