EIB -record EUR 5 billion engagement in Africa in 2020 transforms access to green energy, clean water & private sector growth
- April 26, 2021
- Posted by: Elaine Coles
- Category: Investment and Finance, Water Issues, Africa, Europe
In 2020 the European Investment Bank provided a record EUR 5 billion for new private and public investment across Africa.
This represented the largest annual EIB engagement in 55 years of operations on the continent and the largest support for climate action and investment in fragile states.
Financing and technical support provided by the EIB in Africa last year is backing more than EUR 12 billion of new investment to improve agriculture, access to off-grid renewable energy and accelerating rural electrification, affordable housing, communications, climate resilience and climate insurance for small holders, healthcare and private sector access to finance.
Overall EIB backing for investment in Africa represented a 50% increase on engagement in the previous year. This reflected the rapid response to strengthen public health investment, ensure access to safe and affordable to COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX and accelerated access to finance to increase economic resilience and help entrepreneurs and private business to withstand unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic.
“The EIB is fully engaged in supporting a green recovery for Africa through finance and expertise, also on the ground. In recent weeks, ahead of today’s EU-Africa Green Investment Forum in Lisbon, the EU Bank and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU have brought together thousands of development partners across Africa in a series of Green Talk dialogues. This is a great demonstration of how investment in Africa can and must deliver sustainable development building on best-practice.”, said Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.
Backing transformational investment across Africa and supporting vulnerable regions
The latest EIB engagement directly supported 58 projects in 28 African countries. In sub-Saharan Africa 71% of the new EIB engagement confirmed in 2020 is supporting investment in fragile states and least developed economies.
The new high impact projects backed by the EIB last year include securing access to clean drinking water for more than five million people in Egypt, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tunisia, connecting rural communities to clean energy across Chad, the Comores, Gambia, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda and transforming waste management in secondary towns across Senegal.
Last year the EIB provided EUR 2.4 billion for private sector investment across Africa. This included new initiatives with local financial partners and microfinance institutions to improve access to finance by small holders, entrepreneurs and business in Benin, Kenya, Mali, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Malawi, Morocco and Senegal.
Improving public health and economic resilience to COVID-19 with African, European and global partners
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the EIB has rapidly approved new support to strengthen public health and ensure entrepreneurs, business and agriculture can access finance during challenging times.
This included support for enabling public health response to the pandemic in Benin, Niger and Morocco and reducing the risk of COVID-19 at public water supplies in Kenya. clean energy and adapting to climate change
EUR 3.4 billon – over two-thirds – of the new EIB financing in Africa in 2020 is supporting climate action. This includes scaling up renewable energy and improving access to off-grid energy, improving energy efficiency and protecting urban areas and strategic infrastructure from extreme weather and a changing climate.
Working with global, African and European partners to accelerate deliver sustainable development
On 23rd April United Nations Secretary General Antionio Guterres and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen opened the EU-Africa Green Investment Forum, hosted by EU Portuguese Presidency and the European Investment Bank.
The EU-Africa Green Investment Forum will bring together more than 1,000 participants, both in Lisbon and online from around the world to share sustainable investment best practice, including through catalysing digitalisation and strengthening economic resilience.
The EU-Africa Green Investment Forum is the largest event for dialogue focused on investment in Africa to take place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.