TheCable

The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) says it is in talks with the Angolan government to provide a $1 billion funding commitment to support the country’s rail, power and natural resources projects.

In a statement on Wednesday, AFC said Angola sought to add more value across its commodity exports spectrum by partnering with the AFC as a shareholder and its 35th member state.

In 2020, AFC made a $45 million investment in Sonangol, the country’s state-owned oil company, to support strategic projects. 

“AFC’s investment approach is aligned with the government’s priorities through its focus on financing instrumental infrastructure projects that promote economic diversification and resource-driven industrialisation. In line with this, AFC recently approved US$100 million in financing for the construction of the Cabinda Refinery, a national priority project to boost local value addition to oil exports and create thousands of jobs,” the statement reads. 

“AFC is working with the government on a pipeline of further potential projects totalling almost US$ 1 billion across several sectors including natural resources, transport and power. AFC is assessing opportunities to support refinery plants that will boost local manufacturing, drive import substitution, and strengthen production networks, along with the construction of a railway corridor that will improve exports in Angola’s sub-region.”

With a mission of solving the continent’s infrastructure gap, AFC said it has invested over $10 billion — utilising its unique access to global capital markets — to drive development, integrate regional economies and transform lives. 

As a shareholder, it said, “Angola can co-invest its foreign reserves in the corporation’s high-impact and high-yielding de-risked African infrastructure assets”. 

Vera Daves, Angola’s finance minister, said the country’s natural resources are in high demand as Europe seeks alternative sources of fuel and foodstuff in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. 

She said the partnership with AFC would help to drive the country’s next growth and development phase. 

“Membership of AFC offers Angola a much-needed partnership with a highly rated African multilateral institution that can support our transition from a state-led and oil-funded economic model to a private sector-led growth model,” Daves said. 

“We look forward to collaborating with AFC as we approach Angola’s next phase of growth and development.”

Samaila Zubairu, AFC president and CEO, said: “Angola’s membership and shareholder status enables AFC to continue to support the government in fostering the industrial transformation necessary to build a resilient and inclusive economy.

“We look forward to growing our partnership with the government of Angola to serve not only in-country projects but across the Central and Southern Africa region.”