Kenya: African Development Bank approves €89 million loan to bolster economic recovery
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved an €89 million loan to boost the Kenyan government’s economic recovery efforts.
The loan will provide funding for the second phase of Kenya’s Competitiveness and Economic Recovery Support Program (CERSP) that was approved by the Bank in June 2021 and will help the country to free up fiscal space to address other priorities in one of the region’s largest economies. CERSP supports reforms under three components: (i) attaining fiscal sustainability by enhancing anti-money laundering and e-procurement frameworks and oversight over the operations of state-owned enterprises; (ii) strengthening industrial development and competitiveness to deepen the contribution of the manufacturing sector in line with the “Big Four” agenda while fostering climate resilience and green growth; and (iii) enhancing economic and social inclusion by furthering the social protection system and universal health coverage.
African Development Bank extends €121 million food-production loan to Senegal to cushion impacts of war in Ukraine
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group today approved a €121 million loan to Senegal for implementation of an emergency agricultural programme that will benefit 850,000 small farmers, 35% of whom are women..
"Senegal's dependence on the outside world for basic commodities and foodstuffs is a real bottleneck and poses a threat to the country's food sovereignty, which has been sharpened by the war in Ukraine," said Mohamed Chérif, the Bank’s Country Manager for Senegal. "This operation is intended to mitigate exogenous financial, economic, social and climate shocks and to maintain the upward trend in cereal production seen in recent years, especially by focusing efforts on the availability of key inputs including seeds and fertilizers to producers," he added.
African Development Bank, Africa50 and the newly launched African Sovereign Investors Forum signal strong desire to jointly mobilize capital for infrastructure projects
Africa50, the African Development Bank, and Africa Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF), have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on developing green and climate resilient infrastructure projects across Africa. The three entities will work together to galvanize financing and to drive the development of skills and expertise within the infrastructure sector.
The signing took place on 20 June 2022 in Rabat, Morocco, during an event to launch the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum. Under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, 10 African sovereign investors agreed to set up the Forum. The newly formed platform will accelerate coordination to mobilize patient capital for the continent’s development.
Cameroon: African Development Bank Board approves €39.6 million loan to improve access to Kribi industrial and port area
On Wednesday, 22 June, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank approved a €39.62 million loan to Cameroon to improve road access to the industrial and port areas of Kribi, in the south of the country.
Designed for implementation of the second phase of the Kribi Industrial and Port Area Access Roads Development Project, the funds will complement the €114.33-million loan granted in October 2021 for the first phase.
The Cameroonian Government built a deep-water port backing onto an industrial zone called ‘Kribi Industrial and Port Complex’ to address congestion in the port of Douala, which cannot accommodate deep-draft vessels, due to its proximity to the coastal town of Kribi. The complex is equipped with ultra-modern machinery and large storage and work areas. Access roads to the complex have deteriorated over time due to increasing usage by heavy-duty vehicles amid increased industrial activity at the site.
African Development Bank Group urges G7 countries to support Africa’s emergency food production plan
The world must do more to tackle the increasing global food insecurity worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina told a G7 ministerial conference on Friday.
Governments, multilateral Development Banks, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil societies, and philanthropists demanded, among others, the release of millions of metric tons of food trapped in Ukraine due to the war.
The German government hosted the conference titled ‘Uniting for Global Food Security,’ to coordinate responses to the global food crisis caused by climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and heightened by the war in Ukraine.
African Development Bank’s Board approves landmark institution: Establishment of African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation to transform Africa’s pharmaceutical industry
The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation, a new groundbreaking institution that will significantly enhance Africa’s access to the technologies that underpin the manufacture of medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products.
African Development Bank Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said: “This is a great development for Africa. Africa must have a health defense system, which must include three major areas: revamping Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, building Africa’s vaccine manufacturing capacity, and building Africa’s quality healthcare infrastructure.”
During the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2022, the continent’s leaders called on the African Development Bank to facilitate the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation. Adesina, who presented the case for the institution to the African Union said: “Africa can no longer outsource the healthcare security of its 1.3 billion citizens to the benevolence of others.” With this bold initiative, the African Development Bank has made good on that commitment.
Burkina Faso : plus de dix mille nouvelles entreprises enregistrées grâce à un projet soutenu par la Banque africaine de développement
Le Projet d’appui à la transformation de l’économie et la création de l’emploi, mis en œuvre au Burkina Faso, entre 2014 et 2021, a permis d’augmenter l’enregistrement de nouvelles entreprises. Les nouvelles entreprises enregistrées sont passées de 1 021 en 2014 à 13 500 en 2021, grâce notamment à l'appui du projet aux Centres de gestion agréés de Ouagadougou et de Bobo-Dioulasso dans la sensibilisation sur l’importance de la formalisation des entreprises.
Le projet a été financé pour 11,2 millions de dollars américains par le Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement. Le but du projet était de consolider les institutions de promotion du secteur privé et de promouvoir la transformation structurelle de l’économie en instaurant un lien entre le renforcement des capacités professionnelles et le renforcement des capacités des institutions d’appui au secteur privé.
African Development Bank to launch public financial management academy to build capacity in African countries
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank on Wednesday approved the creation of a virtual academy to build public financial management capacity in African countries. Countries will receive technical assistance through structured, targeted, dedicated and local training as well as through policy dialogue.
The academy, hosted within the African Development Institute of the African Development Bank Group, will deepen partnership with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and African countries to improve public financial management practices in Africa. Other implementing partners include key regional public financial management institutions, regional technical assistance centers, universities, and national public administration training institutes.
The training, technical assistance and policy dialogue delivered by the academy will cover upstream and downstream issues in the public financial management cycle, tailored to the specific needs of African countries.
Malawi: African Development Bank gives financial sector a boost with new tools to support local corporates, SMEs and domestic trade
Members of the African Development Bank Group’s Financial Sector Development Department (trade finance division) have concluded a successful visit to Malawi aimed at strengthening engagement with the private sector and leading financial institutions.
The team, led by the Bank’s Country Manager for Malawi, Macmillan Anyanwu, engaged with senior executives of several local financial institutions in Lilongwe and Blantyre to establish points of entry for the Bank to support Malawi’s financial sector. Bleming Nekati, Chief Trade Finance Office; Jonathan Banda, Investment Officer; and Samson Kasuka, Senior Trade Finance Officer, made up the rest of the delegation.
African Development Bank Group launches dedicated trust fund for circular economy
The African Development Bank Group today launched its first Africa Circular Economy Facility during its 2022 Annual Meetings. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.
The Bank Group’s Board of Directors approved the facility on 30 March. As a trust fund, it will channel finance and de-risk innovative circular economy business models beyond waste management. It will support the country-led African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) in integrating the circular economy into African green growth strategies.
The multi-donor trust fund will operate over a five-year period. It will receive initial support of €4 million from the Government of Finland and the Nordic Development Fund.