AfDB approves $69.6m financing for infrastructure projects in three countries

02 Feb 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

The Abidjan-based multilateral lender said it approved the risk participations through the African Development Fund.

AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina

The African Development Bank has approved two transport sector investment risk participations worth $69.6 million to cover investment projects in Ghana, Malawi, and Mozambique, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

The Abidjan-based multilateral lender said it approved the risk participations through the African Development Fund (ADF) – the bank’s concessional window – as the projects will contribute significantly to regional integration and trade.

A risk participation is a type of off-balance-sheet transaction in which a bank sells its exposure to a contingent obligation to another financial institution, according to Investopedia. The AfDB said the two risk participations were granted through the ADF’s Private Sector Credit Enhancement Facility (PSF).

Launched in 2015, the PSF is the AfDB’s risk-sharing initiative to increase private financing in low-income countries. With the latest risk participations, the PSF’s cumulative approved exposures since inception has reached $420 million (62 percent of total program amount). The new transactions have also brought to 25 the number of transactions approved under the PSF scheme, covering areas such as the transport, energy, industrial, agroindustry and financial sectors.

Established in 1972, the ADF is administered by the AfDB for the benefit of 38 eligible countries, which include both high-growth and fragile states on the African continent. The ADF provides concessional funding for projects and programmes as well as technical assistance for poverty reduction and economic development in eligible countries.

Since inception, the ADF has cumulatively invested over $45 billion on the continent. The Fund’s resources are replenished every three years by its donor countries and has been replenished 14 times so far. In December last year, donor countries contributed up to $7.06 billion to replenish the ADF for the next three years.


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