Gabon joins AFC, becomes 10th member-state
Gabon has become the latest country to become a member of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), after signing the corporation’s instrument of accession and acceptance of membership in Libreville.
By the action, Gabon becomes the 10th country to join the AFC after other member states like Cape Verde, Chad, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra-Leone and The Gambia.
Gabon has an abundance of natural resources, with long-established oil, timber and manganese industries, and one of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore. However limited infrastructure has been constraining the country’s recent economic development.
AFC aims to help address Gabon’s most immediate infrastructure needs, in the transportation, natural resources and power sectors, among others, to assist the country in meeting its full growth potential and in diversifying its GDP and sources of income.
As with all other member states, Gabon’s membership enables AFC to receive preferred creditor status within the country, the benefits of which would reduce AFC’s investment risk, enabling the Corporation to provide more competitive financing solutions.
Overall, the Corporation has invested over US$2.5 billion in projects across 22 African countries and provides funding and project development expertise in a wide range of sectors including power, telecommunications, transport and logistics, natural resources and heavy industries.
Minister of Economy, Republic of Gabon, Régis Immongault, said: “I am delighted to be able to formalise Gabon’s membership of the Africa Finance Corporation, an organisation that is successfully driving growth and development of infrastructure across the continent. The strong track record of the Corporation demonstrates its ability to work with both governments and private sector institutions to deliver innovative financing solutions for projects spanning a large variety of sectors.”
Chief Executive Officer of AFC, Andrew Alli, welcomed Gabon to the corporation’s membership body, saying: “We at AFC are committed to proactively financing and developing infrastructure where it is most needed.
“We are excited by the government of Gabon’s commitment to development and to supporting infrastructure investments as a means of achieving this objective. Gabon’s significant natural resources, abundance of land and growing agricultural industry offers huge potential for sustainable growth and diversification, if the adequate supporting infrastructure is in place. We aim to make a significant contribution to this.”
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