Sierra Leone Telegraph: 8 October 2024:
The Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), at its 89th Ordinary Session, approved investments totalling EUR 61 million and USD 100 million to stimulate the infrastructure, trade and sustainable development sectors in West Africa.
The session was held on October 1, 2024, at the Bank’s headquarters in Lomé, Togo, under the chairmanship of Dr George Agyekum Donkor, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Dr Donkor emphasized that the approved investments are in line with the Bank’s mission to promote sustainable development and regional integration for the ECOWAS sub-region while driving growth in economic activity.
For the private sector, a USD 100 million line of credit was granted to Access Bank Plc in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to support SMEs to expand operations in the various sectors while for the public sector, three projects totalling EUR 61 million were approved in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to support infrastructure, transport, health and sustainable development.
The approved projects aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the Bank’s Strategic Plan for 2021-2025.
These approvals bring EBID’s total commitments in the ECOWAS region to USD 4.2 billion, of which total commitments in the Federal Republic of Nigeria amounts to USD 408 million.
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), is the financial institution established by the 15 Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
The Bank is an international financial institution with two funding windows to promote private sector activities and fund the development of the public sector. It is based in Lome, the Togolese Republic.
Overall, EBID aims to contribute to the economic development of West Africa through the financing of ECOWAS projects and programs in particular, those related to transport, energy, telecommunications, industry, poverty alleviation, the environment and natural resources.
The Bank intervenes in the Public Sector by issuing Direct medium and long-term concessionary or non-concessionary loans; and in the Private Sector by issuing direct short, medium and long term loans, equity participation through equity or quasi-equity (convertible bonds and/or participatory loans), lines of credit and framework agreements for the refinancing of Member States’ national financial institutions, granting and/or guaranteeing of debenture loans, bonds, notes and securities, financial engineering and financial services.
EBID is also involved in the financing of intra-regional trade in order to enhance trade among Community member States. It supports agriculture in order to enable Community member States achieve food self-sufficiency and promotes financing of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, particularly those relating to energy efficiency, renewable energies and the carbon market through its contribution to establishing of the African Bio-fuels and Renewable Energies Fund with the assistance of the World Bank and other development partners. The name of the Fund at present is African Bio-fuels and Renewable Energies Company (ABREC).
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