-For Sasstown-Klowein Road

The 61st meeting of the Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), held on Tuesday, 5th March 2019 at its headquarters, in Lomé, Togo, approved partial financing in the amount of US$50 million for the Sasstown-Klowein Road construction project, in southeastern Liberia. According to the EBID, the public sector road construction project, among other crucial components, comprises civil works for fifty kilometers (50km) approximately.

Fielding questions from journalists after the meeting, the President of EBID, Mr. Bashir Mamman Ifo, said that in addition to the approval for the financing of the project, the 61st Board Directors meeting, which was the first in 2019, approved the 2018 Activity report and 2018 Accounts which were both recommended for the approval of the Board of Governors.

With regard to resource mobilization, Mr. Ifo pointed out that it was a continuous process through which the Bank raises funds from financial markets within the region; from Europe and from Asia, to finance projects. He further said that with regard to the region, the Bank intended to raise twenty-five billion francs (FCFA 25 billion) from the UEMOA capital market this quarter. He further said that the Bank was authorized to issue a Eurobond in the international capital market. Finally, he reminded journalists that EBID also raises funds on a bilateral basis from Asia especially from EXIM Bank India while discussions are ongoing with China Development Bank.

About EBID

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is the financial arm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), comprising fifteen (15) Member States namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The mission of EBID is to assist in creating favorable conditions for the emergence of an economically strong, industrialized and prosperous West Africa that is fully integrated into the global economic system with a view to taking advantage of the opportunities and prospects offered by globalization.

The Bank operates primarily in the following areas: infrastructure, transport, energy telecommunications; agriculture and rural development, social sector; industry, services (financial services, financial engineering, hotels/tourism, etc.). EBID intervenes through long, medium and short-term loans, equity participation, granting of lines credit and putting in place framework agreements for refinancing, financial engineering operations and services.

To date, EBID has approved funding for 278 projects corresponding to 1.080 billion Units of Account (UA), equivalent to about US$2.5 billion. The authorized capital of the Bank is UA1 billion, equivalent to US$1.039 billion.