ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST — The African Development Bank Group and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) have signed an agreement for a dual currency line of credit consisting of $50 million and €50 million to support local agricultural businesses in West Africa.

Dr. George Agyekum Donkor, president and chairman of the board of directors of EBID, and Solomon Quaynor, African Development Bank vice president for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, formalized the agreement at the African Development Bank’s Abidjan headquarters on Oct. 5.

“This credit facility illustrates EBID’s continued efforts to mobilize adequate resources to honor its commitment to the region’s transformation agenda through supporting and investing in key sectors, in this case, the agribusiness industry,” Donkor said.

The African Development Bank’s board of directors approved the dual currency line of credit for EBID early in 2023. The Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), managed by the African Development Bank, will provide an additional $30 million in co-financing. AGTF is sponsored by the People’s Bank of China.

The 3½-year facility will enable EBID to offer direct financing to commercial banks and local businesses operating in the agriculture and soft commodity sector within its member states.

This aligns with EBID’s strategic mission to support local businesses, particularly small- and medium-size enterprises, local business cooperatives and farmers in West Africa. The credit lines are expected to strengthen food security, economic growth and employment.

“This agreement underscores our strong commitment to harness the continent’s limited resources to deliver, with speed and at scale, quality investments to help address the ever-increasing trade finance gap in Africa while working with strategic regional partners like EBID and – through you – local commercial banks,” Quaynor said.

EBID is the development finance institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and is composed of 15 member states. Based in Lomé, Togolese Republic, the bank is committed to financing developmental projects and programs covering diverse development initiatives in the private and public sectors.