A loan facility agreement worth $668 million has been signed between the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The loan facility extended by the government of Japan through JICA, is to support the 15th replenishment of the ADF approved in December 2019 by donor countries.
ADF is the concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Speaking at the virtual signing ceremony of the loan, Japanese Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire Kuramitsu Hideaki said the facility formed part of Japan’s commitment to promote industrial human resource development, innovation and investment, and to invest in quality infrastructure on the continent especially in the Covid-19 era.
“I sincerely hope that this loan in yen will allow the (African Development Fund) to execute concessional financing and grants for African countries facing emerging challenges caused by COVID-19 and contribute to the economic and social development of these countries,” he stated.
“The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated global structural changes. Africa is still in the midst of this crisis, facing serious challenges from coronavirus variants and the cold storage requirements for vaccines. Only a united Africa can defeat this threat to humanity. We should not allow this virus to jeopardize the steady progress of freedoms, independence and democracy that African countries have made so far. I firmly believe that today’s contribution to ADF-15 will further boost our cooperation with African countries and strengthen our partnership with the African Development Bank Group,” added Kitaoka Shinichi, President of JICA.
Also speaking at the virtual ceremony was Dr Adesina who highlighted AfDB’s long-standing partnership with the government of Japan.
“This is a continuation of the strong leadership role of Japan in providing concessional loans to the African Development Fund. Japan was the largest provider of concessional donor loans to the African Development Fund’s 15th replenishment, just like Japan was also under the African Development Fund’s 14th replenishment,” he said.
“Japan continues to add great value to the overall replenishment cycles of the African Development Fund. This loan will greatly boost the liquidity of the African Development Fund and allow us to ramp up much-needed support to the ADF countries especially now at this critical time when they are struggling to cope with and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
By the end of the ADF-15 period (2020-2022), it is expected that the ADF’s projects will have changed the lives of millions of Africans. Up to 28,000 km of new or improved power distribution lines will have been installed, around 9 million people will have improved access to water and sanitation and up to $1.6 billion of turnover will have been generated from investments in micro, small and medium-size enterprises.
The fifteenth replenishment of the ADF will deliver investments to support Africa’s poorest countries in building economic resilience and reducing systemic vulnerability.
It will pay special attention to gender equality, climate change, the private sector, and promoting good governance principles, while emphasizing two Strategic Pillars: sustainable and quality infrastructure that bolsters regional integration; and governance and institutional capacity development to boost decent job creation and inclusive growth.
The African Development Fund is made up of 32 contributing states. It benefits 37 countries, including fragile states that need special support to ensure basic service delivery, and countries that in recent years experienced higher growth rates. The Fund’s resources are replenished every three years.
