African Development Bank Group spends $6 billion on 139 approved operations
The African Development Bank Group has approved 139 operations valued at over $6 billion last year, according to the Bank’s 2010 Annual Report.
The total financing of the Group was $6.32 billion (UA 4.10 billion) in 2010.
According to the report, this was a decrease from the peak of $12.42 billion recorded in 2009 signalling a return to a more regular lending volume as the global financial crisis receded.
But approvals in 2010 were 16.1 percent higher than in 2008, the report said.
The report was released during the Group’s annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal recently.
The Group’s constituent institutions are the African Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF).
Giving the breakdown, the report said approvals from the non-concessionary ADB window in 2010 totalled $3.98 billion for 59 operations, compared to $8.63 billion in 2009 for 84 operations, which is a 53.9 percent decrease.
For the ADF, total approvals in 2010 amounted to $2.25 billion, compared with $3.75 billion in 2009.
The NTF, during the year, released an amount of $45.4 million approved under the NTF window for Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The Group also allocated some special funds for specific projects.
“The Special Funds (covering the African Water Facility, the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative, and the Global Environment Facility) accounted for $49.9 million (0.8 percent) of the approvals”, the report noted.
Out of the 139 operations, 53 were loans which amounted to $4.75 billion while grants also recorded 56 operations which was $918.7 million.
The Group approved $312.6 million for the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative accounting for 6 operations. Equity participation was $292.4 million with 11 operations.
Special Funds recorded 13 operations which cost $49.9 million.
In terms of sector approvals, infrastructure had the highest share with 70.9 percent of total loans and grants ($4.01 billion).
The finance sector had 8.7% of the approvals worth $492.6 million and multisector received $463.8 million which is 8.2% of disbursements.
The social sector had $298.1 million constituting 5.3%. Industry, mining and quarrying got $289.5 million which was 5.1% whiles $105 million was earmarked for agriculture and rural development which constitutes 1.9% of the total approvals.
According to the AfDB, governments have received $15 billion in taxes and fees from these operations.
By Ekow Quandzie