The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AfDB

  • Africa Infrastructure Fund secures $100m loan from AfDB

    Africa Infrastructure Fund secures $100m loan from AfDB

    In a bid to reduce the huge infrastructure financing gap in Sub-Sahara Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved US $100 million to the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), a Public Private Partnership (PPP) company, a statement has said .

    It will be recalled that EAIF granted credit facility to   Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd (IEFCL) for  construction of its  new US$1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Port Harcourt, River State.

    Through a US$325-365 million debt raise, EAIF intends to develop the fund’s strategy of growing its loan portfolio over the next 3-5 years and to become a sustainable and concrete alternative to development finance institutions and commercial banks.

    Since its inception, the Fund has played a key role in the infrastructure landscape in Africa, investing in structuring and long-term infrastructure projects to the tune of over US$1.2 billion in about 70 transactions.

  • Africa Capital Works Fund wins $15m AfDB equity investment

    The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $15million equity participation in Africa Capital Works Fund.

    The investment will finance Sub Saharan Africa’s mid-market companies in strategically selected sectors that offer the potential to be transformed into local and regional industry champions, over a longer than usual ownership period.

    Launched by the independent alternative asset manager, Capital-works Group, is a $300 million fund, targeting institutional and professional investors across the continent.  The Fund, led by Joint Managing Partners, Beth Mandel and Nana Sao, will invest in financial services, agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing by deploying longer termed equity.

    The general shallowness of African capital markets and the high cost of debt finance mean that Private Equity plays a central role in helping to unlock and grow the potential of individual companies and ecosystems.  Furthermore, mid-sized African enterprises struggle to raise the long-term capital they need to grow through the multiple phases of value creation to achieve enterprise growth and jobs.  The AfDB recognises the significant imbalance between the supply of and demand for long-term capital in the rapidly growing and developing Sub-Sahara Africa economies and the mid-market companies within them and share ACWs’ thesis that longer-term capital offers a better way to address this imbalance.

    The investment in Africa capital Works offers significant potential for development impact and helps advance the strategic agenda of the Bank’s High five priorities   with regards to Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, Feed Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.

    More specifically, the investment will support; the promotion of financial inclusion through offering affordable and improved financial services for the unbanked; gender and social benefits arising from support to smallholder farmers; private sector development through improved access to finance for mid-cap businesses; as well as enhance regional trade by investing in regional companies thereby facilitating their growth across countries and regions.

    Africa Capital Works strategy is well aligned with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2013 to 2022) as it contributes directly to achieving the Bank’s inclusive growth vision.  It promotes the Bank’s Private Sector Development Strategy (2013-2017) by developing growth oriented enterprises as well as the Bank’s Financial Sector Development Policy and Strategy (2014 to 2019) whose priority is to increase access to finance to the underserved and to deepen the financial market.

     

  • AfDB boosts agric with $10m equity investment

    The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) yesterday approved $10 million equity investment in Phatisa Food Fund2 (PFF2) to boost agriculture and nutrition across Africa.

    The PFF2 is a second generation Fund which builds on the success of its predecessor African Agriculture Fund (AAF), sponsored by AfDB along with other DFIs including the French Development Agency (AFD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID).

    Phatisa, PFF2s fund manager, is a South-Africa based private-equity, corporate finance and advisory company operating across Africa, incorporated in January 2008 as a limited company in Mauritius.

    “Phatisa” is Xhosa word for “helping to carry.” PFF2 is targeting a capitalization of $300 million to invest across Africa with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

    It is projected to cover the entire African continent, with a sharper focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, relying on its presence in South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia, Mauritius and London and a new office opening in Côte d’Ivoire.

    Presently, the Fund targets average investment amounts of US$ 20 million in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa; Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa and Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa.

     

  • As AfDB invest $500m

    As AfDB invest $500m

    The Chairman, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Dr. Shehu Yahaya, has said 11 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) failed to meet its requirement for loan disbursement to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

    Yahaya disclosed this during a meeting with Vice President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Pierre Guislain, at the DBN headquarters in Abuja.

    He noted that the Federal Government in close partnership with international development finance institutions such as the AfDB established DBN to provide sustainable financing through eligible PFIs for on-lending to MSMEs in order to develop that segment of the Nigerian economy.

    He stated that on October 30, 2OI 7, DBN disbursed a total of N5bn to these micro finance institutions for on-lending to over 20,000 MSMEs across the country.

    Yahaya said: “We have commenced the engagement of commercial banks. Eligibility questionnaires have been sent to all commercial banks out of which 12 have responded and expressed interest in assessing the DBN loan. The on-boarding process for banks that met our eligibility criteria have commenced.

    “Two commercial banks have already signed our Master Lending Agreement and due diligence on these banks will commence shortly while we work towards signing on two more commercial banks this month. Overall, a total of 36 PFls were engaged, of which 32 responded and were duly assessed with only 21 meeting DBN eligibility criteria.”

    Earlier, the AfDB representative said the Bank will invest about $500m in the Federal Government Development Bank.

    He said $50 million has been committed in equity with additional $450 million in terms of loan.

    The support, according to the AfDB would be disbursed MSMEs in the country through micro finance institutions and deposit money banks.

    “We invested in equity which is about $50m, as well as in loans, which also is about $450m. This is a really big financial commitment and so we’ve made the first disbursement, which happened last month and is on the loan part. It is also important to state that we will be continuing as planned.”

    Guislain stated that the AfDB had a major aim of supporting MSMEs in Africa, adding that in order to achieve this, the AfDB had to work with national partners.

    “We are one of the major shareholders of the bank (DBN), and one of the major lenders to the bank. One of the main goals of the AfDB is to support micro, small and medium enterprises across the continent of Africa.

  • AfDB calls off proposed $400m loan to Nigeria

    AfDB calls off proposed $400m loan to Nigeria

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called off a loan to Nigeria that would have helped fund the country’s budget.

    It has instead redirected the money to specific projects, a vice president at the lender said yesterday, according to Reuters.

    The AfDB  had been in talks with Nigeria for around a year to release the second, $400 million tranche of a $1 billion loan to shore up its budget for 2017, as the government tried to reinvigorate its stagnant economy with heavy spending.

    But Nigeria has not met the terms of the international lenders, which also included the World Bank, to enact various reforms, including allowing its currency, the naira, to float freely on the foreign exchange market.

    Rather than loan Nigeria money to fund its budget, the African Development Bank is likely to take at least some of that money and “put it directly into projects,” Amadou Hott, African Development Bank vice-president for power, energy, climate change and green growth, told Reuters in an interview during a Nordic-African business conference in Oslo.

    Because prices for oil, on which Nigeria’s government relies for about two-thirds of its revenues, have risen and the naira-dollar exchange rate has improved, the country is relying less than expected on external borrowing, Hott said.

    No one from the Nigerian finance ministry was immediately available to comment.

    Nigeria’s 2017 budget, N7.44 trillion, is just one in a series of record budgets that the government has faced obstacles funding, pushing it to seek loans from overseas.

    In late 2016, the AfDB agreed to lend Nigeria a first tranche of $600 million out of $1 billion. But negotiations over economic reform later bogged down, blocking attempts to secure the second tranche of $400 million, sources told Reuters then.

    Now, AfDB’s loans will be more targeted, Hott said.

    “It’s hundreds of millions of dollars, just in one go, that we were supposed to provide in budget support, but we will move into real projects … “ he said.

    Earlier this month, the head of Nigeria’s Debt Management Office said the country is still in talks with the World Bank for a $1.6 billion loan, which will help plug part of an expected $7.5 billion deficit for 2017.

    The administration is also trying to restructure its debt to move away from high-interest, naira-denominated loans and towards dollar loans, which carry lower rates.

  • AfDB targets 513 million tonnes of food production by 2025

    AfDB targets 513 million tonnes of food production by 2025

    The African Development Bank (AfDB)’s new initiative  Technologies for African Agriculture initiative will produce 513 million tonnes of additional food across Africa. It will also lift nearly 250 million Africans out of poverty by 2025.

    A statement from the bank said 25 African countries have written letters, confirming their interest and readiness to participate in TAAT, and help transform their agriculture.

    TAAT, according to the bank, will support its Feed Africa Strategy for the continent to eliminate the current massive importation of food and transform its economies by targeting agriculture as a major source of economic diversification and wealth, as well as a powerful engine for job creation.

    The commodities value chains to benefit from this initiative are rice, cassava, pearl millet, sorghum, groundnut, cowpea, livestock, maize, soya bean, yam, cocoa, coffee, cashew, palm oil, horticulture, beans, wheat and fish.

    AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, at a TAAT side event in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, said: “TAAT was born out of this major consultation and brings together global players in agriculture, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Rockefeller Foundation and national and regional agricultural research systems.

    “It’s the biggest consolidation of efforts to accelerate agriculture technology uptake in Africa. Technology will address the variability and the new pests and diseases that will surely arise with climate change,” he said.

    Adesina explained that TAAT would help break down decades of national boundary-focused seed release systems. Seed companies will have regional business investments, not just national ones, he said. “That will be revolutionary and will open up regional seed industries and markets.”

    TAAT, he explained, is to be implemented through a collectively agreed central delivery platform, coordinated by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, with national, regional and international agricultural research centres.

    “TAAT is a transformative and landmark partnership effort. The African Development Bank, World Bank, AGRA, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation intend to mobilize US $1 billion to help scale up technologies across Africa.”

    The Director, External Communications, African Region, World Bank Group, Haleh Bridi, described TAAT as a regional technology delivery infrastructure for agriculture, linking countries across agro-ecological zones.

    Bridi stressed that Africa can learn from Asia, which had made “amazing strides” in its agricultural revolution. “This is why we are involved in the TAAT programme,” she said to resounding applause.

    The Director for Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nick Austin, said, “Technology obviously evolves the journey to prosperity, the way economies transform and the way small-holder farmers engage.

    “Locally, there are varieties. Locally, there are new technologies and solutions to small-holder farmers. We are in the position to play a key role in bringing the best technologies available and supporting new ways in delivering this to farmers. We are delighted and excited to be part of this initiative.”

    The President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Agnes Kalibata, stressed that African governments should drive technological development in agriculture.

    “What TAAT is going to have to do is work with the governments. We have lots of institutions that are ready for these technologies. We should work with governments to ensure that the technologies are not just ready to work, but become available to their country people. I think that ensuring that the farmers get all the technologies they need is going to be very important,” she said.

  • AfDB lifts Bank of Agric with $1.3m

    AfDB lifts Bank of Agric with $1.3m

    Two companies, KPMG Professional Services and DevPar Financial Consulting Limited, have won the financial bidding of $1.3million to retool the  Bank of Agriculture (BoA).

    The companies won the capacity building and institutional strengthening project of African Development Bank (AfDB) after scoring 84.5 and 76.63 points in accordance with the financial guidelines of the bank.

    The Managing Director of AfDB, Alhaji Kabir Adamu, speaking in an address at the opening of the financial bid for the selection of consultants in Kaduna, said: “The project which is aimed at building the capability of the bank is apt at this time in Nigeria with the renewed commitment by all stakeholders to agriculture as the main stay of the economy.

    “This project is one in which the  Federal Government, through the BoA, has received financing from AfDB towards the cost of the BoA-Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building Project.”

    Represented by the Executive Director, Retail Services, Emmanuel Ameh, the AfDB chief said the support would assist the bank to carry out necessary reforms and be empowered and to achieve the long term goal of creating an efficient and effective institution capable of using the huge opportunities in the agricultural financing space in the world.

  • AfDB to guarantee food production

    AfDB to guarantee food production

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has developed a new initiative called the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative – a knowledge- and innovation-based response to the recognized need to scaling up proven technologies across Africa.

    Already, 25 African countries have written letters to the AfDB confirming their interest and readiness to participate in TAAT, and help transform their agriculture.

    It will support AfDB’s Feed Africa Strategy for the continent to eliminate the current massive importation of food and transform its economies by targeting agriculture as a major source of economic diversification and wealth, as well as a powerful engine for job creation.

    The initiative will implement 655 carefully considered actions that should result in almost 513 million tons of additional food production and lift nearly 250 million Africans out of poverty by 2025.

    TAAT will execute bold plans to contribute to a rapid agricultural transformation across Africa through raising agricultural productivity along eight Priority Intervention Areas (PIAs).

     

    “TAAT was born out of this major consultation and brings together global players in agriculture, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Rockefeller Foundation and national and regional agricultural research systems, “ said AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, at a TAAT side event at the 2017 World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa.

  • We’re proud of you, Buhari tells AfDB President

    We’re proud of you, Buhari tells AfDB President

    President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria remains proud of its former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, for the winning the 2017 World Food Prize.

    Adesina, who is the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), will today be presented with the $250,000 prize and Laureate sculpture at a ceremony in the United States.

    The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, said Buhari stated this in a video message to the AfDB President.

    The presidential aide, in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, quoted President Buhari as saying: “I received with delight the cheery news of your award as 2017 World Food Prize Laureate.

    “Certainly this did not come to me and many Nigerians as a surprise, given your antecedents and contributions to the development of agriculture across the African continent.

    “We are very proud of you.

    Read : AfDB to invest $24bn in agriculture in 10 years – Adesina

    “According to the World Food Prize Foundation, you won the prize for driving change in African agriculture for over 25 years and improving food security for millions across the continent.

    “Your choice as the winner of the World Food Prize is a clear recognition and appreciation of your long standing contributions, reflected in your several roles and activities which promote social economic development.

    “By dint of hard work, persistence, diligent efforts and God’s sufficient grace, you have risen above many limitations to emerge as a notable figure and a true champion.

    “Your life story mirrors the resilience of the African spirit and doggedness for which Nigerians are well known.

    “On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, I congratulate you and rejoice with you, your family and the AfDB family on this well-deserved honour.

    “Congratulations!’’

    Prior to serving as Nigerian Minister of Agriculture from 2010 to 2015, Adesina was a senior economist at West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) in Bouaké, Ivoary Coast, from 1990 to 1995.

    Adesina was named Forbes African Man of the Year for his reform of Nigerian agriculture.

    He introduced more transparency into the fertiliser supply chain through the popular E-Wallet system of fertilizer distribution in Nigeria.

    The AfDB President had also worked at the Rockefeller Foundation as a senior scientist in 1988, and from 1999 to 2003, represented the Foundation in southern Africa.

    The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, appointed Adesina as one of 17 global leaders to spearhead the defunct Millennium Development Goals.

    Read Also: Buhari signs University of Petroleum Resources Bill

  • AfDB: Nigeria, others spend $35b yearly on food imports

    The President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has lamented that Nigeria and other African countries spend $35 billion yearly on food importation.

    Adesina said in his Norman Borlaug Lecture delivered at Iowa State University, titled: “Betting on Africa to Feed the World”, yesterday in Des Monies, Iowa in the United States.

    According to him, it is unacceptable by his estimates warning that “if the current trend continues, Africa is estimated to spend $110 billion by 2030 on food imports”.

    He therefore called for land tax for unused agricultural land, to provide incentives for faster commercialisation of agriculture and unlocking its potential in Africa.

    Adesina said Africa held the key for feeding nine billion people by 2050, adding that more than ever before, the world must help Africa to rapidly modernise its agriculture and unlock its full potential.

    According to him, the challenge of addressing global food security is the greatest in Africa.