The Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has approved a total of $250 million for five ECOWAS member states.
The facility is to boost the oil and gas, energy, road infrastructure and agricultural sectors of West Africa.
A statement issued by EBID and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the beneficiary countries were Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
It said the approvals were part of the intensified efforts by EBID to invest in key sectors to spur up post COVID-19 pandemic recovery and mitigate the impact of the Russian – Ukraine war on the Member States of ECOWAS.
This was disclosed by Dr George Agyekum Donkor, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, at the just ended 79th session of the Board of Directors of the Bank.
In his opening statement, Dr Donkor observed that the impact of the COVID pandemic and ongoing Russian–Ukraine war have left many economies in tatters. He indicated that the current market conditions had compelled investors to seek a premium on investments in sub-Saharan Africa, thereby increasing the cost of capital.
According to the President of EBID, this had resulted in dampening economic growth, wide-spread balance of payments deficits, unfavourable terms of trade, depletion of central bank international reserves, fiscal deficits, and debt distress.
Therefore, Dr Donkor reiterated the need for EBID, as the financial arm of ECOWAS, to deepen its financial intermediation in all the critical sectors of the Member States to assist them to recover from the economic challenges.
The statement said Madam Damtien L. Tchintchibidja, the Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission who was present at the session, lauded the tremendous impact of EBID’s interventions in the sub-region and assured the Bank of the commitment of the new administration of the ECOWAS Commission to collaborate and support EBID in its multifarious activities especially in the area of resource mobilization to transform the ECOWAS Communities.
EBID is a leading regional investment and development bank, owned by the 15 ECOWAS Member States, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Based in Lomé, Togo, the Bank is committed to financing developmental projects and programs covering diverse initiatives from infrastructure and basic amenities, rural development and environment, industry, and social services sectors, through its private and public sector windows.
EBID intervenes through long, medium, and short-term loans, equity participation, lines of credit, refinancing, financial engineering operations and related services.
