Zimbabwe deals help China tighten African lithium grip
China is increasingly focused on African mines to provide the minerals used in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries, but can the continent maximise the historic opportunity?
Three Chinese energy companies have snapped up controlling shareholdings in Zimbabwean lithium mines during the past four months, as China, the world’s biggest EV market, increasingly gravitates towards Africa to diversify the supply of lithium, one of the most sought after minerals used in the booming manufacture of electric vehicles (EVs).
Chengxin Lithium Group opened up the spate of acquisitions last November with the attainment of a 51% interest in Max Mind Investments’s Sabi Star Lithium mine in eastern Zimbabwe at a cost of $77m.
Africa Investment Forum to hold virtual boardroom sessions 15-17 March, showcasing over $50 billion in bankable projects
The Africa Investment Forum will host virtual boardroom sessions, a key component of the Africa Investment Forum market days, next month, following a postponement late last year, representatives of the initiative announced on Thursday.
The boardrooms will be held virtually from 15th to 17th March this year to discuss and advance deals in the 2021 pipeline. The third edition of the Africa Investment Forum was due to be held in hybrid format in Abidjan in December 2021 but was postponed owing to the emergence of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus. Forty-five deals worth $57.4 billion have been curated for the boardroom discussions.
The announcement of the March event followed a meeting of the founding partners of the Africa Investment Forum, a multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary platform that advances private and public-private-partnership projects to bankability, raises capital, and accelerates deals to financial closure.
Global development finance coalition commits over $5.5 billion for MSME financing in Africa
The coalition for a sustainable and inclusive recovery of the private sector(link is external), an international group of 20 development finance institutions that came together in 2020, today announced commitments of over $5.55 billion of financing to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa between mid-2020 and end of 2021, beating their set target of $4 billion over the period.
The coalition said it had exceeded its initial target by 40 percent, while development finance institutions jointly committed over $5.55 billion of financing of micro, small and medium enterprises in Africa over the period.
African Development Bank Group approves $379.6 million Desert to Power financing facility for the G5 Sahel countries
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility, covering Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. The Bank envisages to commit up to $379.6 million in financing and technical assistance for the facility over the next seven years.
The Desert to Power G5 Financing Facility aims to assist the G5 Sahel countries to adopt a low-emission power generation pathway by making use of the region’s abundant solar potential. The facility will focus on utility-scale solar generation through independent power producers and energy storage solutions. These investments will be backed by a technical assistance component to enhance implementation capacity, strengthen the enabling environment for private sector investments, and ensure gender and climate mainstreaming.
African Development Bank Group and Africa50, in partnership with the African Union Commission and AUDA NEPAD, to create Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa with global partners
The Alliance will:
- Catalyze bankable, greener infrastructure projects at scale and speed
- Raise up to $500 million of early-stage project development and project preparation capital which aims to generate up to $10 billion in investment opportunities
- Support the continent’s transition to Net Zero emissions with investments in greener, climate-resilient and sustainable infrastructure
The African Development Bank Group and Africa50, in partnership with the African Union Commission and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), are exploring collaboration with global partners to create an Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa.
African Development Bank Group approves LEAF program to promote investment in decentralized renewable energy
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group on Wednesday approved the Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (LEAF), under which the Bank will commit up to $164 million to promote decentralized renewable energy in six African countries.
The $800 million program will help spur commercial and local currency investments to scale up the activities of decentralized renewable energy companies in Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tunisia.
Under LEAF, some 18 decentralized renewable energy projects are expected to be financed, providing access to six million people and businesses, resulting in 28.8 million tonnes CO2 eq. in greenhouse gas emission reductions over the lifetime of the systems.
African Development Fund extends $27.39 million grant to support development of mini grid and solar PV net metering in Ghana
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a $27.39 million grant to Ghana for the development of renewable energy investments in the mini grid and net metering space.
The project involves the development of 35 mini grids, standalone solar photovoltaic systems in 400 schools, 200 units in healthcare centers and 100 units for community energy services centers in the Volta Lake region. It will also deploy up to 12,000 units of roof-mounted net-metered solar photovoltaic systems for public institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and selected households.
The project has leveraged co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program, a funding window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, amounting to $28.49 million and $13.30 million, respectively.
African Development Bank sets course to close infrastructure gap with Board approval of its first public private partnerships strategic framework
The African Development Bank Group has taken a crucial step to further address the infrastructure gap in African countries, with the approval of its first strategic framework for the development of public-private partnerships. This follows approval by the Board of Directors of the Bank Group on 19 January 2022.
Africa’s infrastructure investment gap is estimated at more than $100 billion per year, affecting the living conditions of Africans and the continent’s global competitiveness. Bank experts say public-private partnerships offer an additional approach to increase private sector investments and higher levels of efficiency in the development and operation of infrastructure assets in Africa.
Guinea Bissau: African Development Bank Group president announces $30 million package for infrastructure, budget and governance support
African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina has announced a financial package of $30 million dollars to the West African nation of Guinea -Bissau.
Adesina made the announcement on Friday during a visit to Bissau, where he met President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and senior government officials. Discussions covered a range of strategic issues, including strengthening the already close cooperation between the African Development Bank and the Government of Guinea-Bissau, as well as ongoing and future Bank-financed strategic projects to support the country’s economic transformation.
Following the meeting with Embaló, Adesina told reporters that the African Development Bank had earmarked $30 million in financing for projects in Guinea-Bissau. Of this amount, he said $14 million would be allocated to building road networks between Guinea Bissau and Senegal, while $8.7 million and $7 million would go to budget support and capacity building, and government reforms, respectively.
Liberia: African Development Bank extends $10 million grant to enhance climate information systems
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a $10 million grant from the Green Climate Fund, for which the Bank is the accredited agency, to improve Liberia’s early warning weather systems.
The project will also receive $431,969 from the Bank’s ClimDev Africa Special Fund and $1 million from the government of Liberia. The funding will strengthen the country’s capacity to produce tailored, sector-specific climate information services for the benefit of the most vulnerable. Weather disasters cost the country around $6.17 million each year, a figure that is expected to almost double in the next decade, and triple by 2040 under the baseline scenario.
Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, said: “Liberia will be better equipped to generate and disseminate accurate climate and weather information for climate change mitigation and early warning, food security, water security and environmental protection. These improvements will enable us to understand how disaster losses occur and how to avoid them in the future, saving lives and preventing economic losses.”