ECOWAS lending arm approves $250mn to bolster oil & gas, energy, road infrastructure, agriculture in five West African states

ECOWAS lending arm approves $250mn to bolster oil & gas, energy, road infrastructure, agriculture in five West African states
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By Michael Tawiah Bortei October 14, 2022

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) board has approved the allocation of $250mn in support for five member states to boost the oil & gas, energy, road infrastructure and agricultural sectors of West Africa.

The beneficiary countries are Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, EBID president and board chairman Dr George Agyekum Donkor announced, without providing details of how the funds would be allocated.

The approvals are part of the intensified efforts by EBID, a development finance institution, to invest in key sectors to accelerate the post-COVID pandemic recovery and mitigate the impact of the Russian–Ukraine war on members of ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States).

Donkor noted that current market conditions have compelled investors to seek a premium on investments in Sub-Saharan Africa, thereby increasing the cost of capital. That, in turn, he said, has resulted in dampening economic growth, widespread balance of payments deficits, unfavourable terms of trade, depletion of central bank international reserves, fiscal deficits, and debt distress.

Therefore, EBID must deepen its financial intermediation in all the critical sectors of the member states to assist them in recovering, he said.

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