Angola, Africa’s largest oil producer, has joined the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as a shareholder, as its 35th member state.
The partnership with the AFC will help drive the country’s next phase of growth and development, said Finance Minister Vera Daves.
“Joining the AFC offers Angola a much needed partnership with a highly regarded African multilateral institution that can support our transition from a state-led, oil-funded economic model to a private sector-led growth model,” the Minister said.
“We look forward to collaborating with AFC as we approach Angola’s next phase of growth and development.”
AFC’s investment approach is aligned with government priorities through its focus on financing instrumental infrastructure projects that promote economic diversification and resource-based industrialization.
In line with this, the AFC recently approved $100 million in funding for the construction of the Cabinda Refinery, a national priority project to increase the local value of oil exports and create thousands of jobs.
AFC is working with the Angolan government on a pipeline of other potential projects totalling nearly US$1 billion in various sectors, including natural resources, transport and energy.
AFC is assessing opportunities to support refinery plants that will drive local production, boosting import substitution and strengthening production networks, along with the construction of a rail corridor aimed at improving exports in Angola’s sub-region.
In 2020, AFC, as part of a syndicate, made a $45 million investment in Sonangol, the state oil company, to support strategic projects, including the development of Angola’s first solar photovoltaic complex.
Angola is the most recent member of the AFC, where it is rapidly expanding, having added 16 new member countries in the last four years, namely Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
With a mission to address the continent’s infrastructure gap, AFC has invested over $10 billion, using its unique access to global capital markets to drive development, integrate regional economies and transform lives.
Member countries enjoy significant benefits including increased investment allocation, preferential access to AFC’s structuring and lending solutions for sovereign states, reduced debt costs for projects, and access to the Corporation’s exclusive project development and advisory services. As a shareholder, Angola can co-invest its foreign reserves in the Corporation’s high-impact, high-yield risk-free African infrastructure assets.
“Angola’s membership and shareholder status allows AFC to continue to support the government in promoting the industrial transformation needed to build a resilient and inclusive economy,” said Samaila Zubairu, AFC President and CEO.
“We look forward to increasing our partnership with the government of Angola to serve not only projects in the country, but throughout the Central and Southern African region,” he concluded.
08/01/2022
