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The Japanese Government and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have signed an agreement for an additional $300 million support under a running facility targeted at supporting Africa’s private sector. AfDB said in a statement Japan had to date provided $1.5 billion in batches under the facility known as the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) for Africa, since the first batch of $100 million was unveiled in 2007.
Financial support is also being provided under two other windows, the Accelerated Co-financing Facility (ACFA) for public sector co-financing with Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), a multi-donor thematic trust fund.
AfDB administers the three facilities.
Japan last year committed to providing $3 billion under EPSA in the next three years at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad) which was held in Kenya.
Ticad is a platform set up in 1993 to boost relations between the Asian giant and Africa in the wake of competition to tighten ties from the West and other Asian countries such as China and India.
“Japan is a very strategic partner of the AfDB and a major trading partner for Africa.
“Your support in promoting private sector growth, quality infrastructure and co-financing operations, has allowed the Bank to grow its private sector portfolio ten-fold,” said AfDB’s senior vice president Charles Boamah. – New Ziana.
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