The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) says it is in talks with the Angolan government to provide a $1 billion funding commitment to support the country’s rail, power and natural resources projects.
In a statement on Wednesday, AFC said Angola sought to add more value across its commodity exports spectrum by partnering with the AFC as a shareholder and its 35th member state.
In 2020, AFC made a $45 million investment in Sonangol, the country’s state-owned oil company, to support strategic projects.
“AFC’s investment approach is aligned with the government’s priorities through its focus on financing instrumental infrastructure projects that promote economic diversification and resource-driven industrialisation. In line with this, AFC recently approved US$100 million in financing for the construction of the Cabinda Refinery, a national priority project to boost local value addition to oil exports and create thousands of jobs,” the statement reads.
With a mission of solving the continent’s infrastructure gap, AFC said it has invested over $10 billion — utilising its unique access to global capital markets — to drive development, integrate regional economies and transform lives.
As a shareholder, it said, “Angola can co-invest its foreign reserves in the corporation’s high-impact and high-yielding de-risked African infrastructure assets”.
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Vera Daves, Angola’s finance minister, said the country’s natural resources are in high demand as Europe seeks alternative sources of fuel and foodstuff in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
She said the partnership with AFC would help to drive the country’s next growth and development phase.
“Membership of AFC offers Angola a much-needed partnership with a highly rated African multilateral institution that can support our transition from a state-led and oil-funded economic model to a private sector-led growth model,” Daves said.
“We look forward to collaborating with AFC as we approach Angola’s next phase of growth and development.”
Samaila Zubairu, AFC president and CEO, said: “Angola’s membership and shareholder status enables AFC to continue to support the government in fostering the industrial transformation necessary to build a resilient and inclusive economy.
“We look forward to growing our partnership with the government of Angola to serve not only in-country projects but across the Central and Southern Africa region.”
Source: The Cable