EBID Board Allocates €230m, $10m To Strengthen Infrastructure, Support Private Sector Growth

The Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has approved a total of €230 million and $10 million to finance projects aimed at stimulating development and boosting economic activities in West Africa.

The said on Tuesday that the financing package was granted during the 91st Ordinary meeting of the Board, held on Thursday, April 03, 2025, via videoconference, chaired by the president and chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, Dr. George Agyekum Donkor.

The facilities will be put towards the following projects: a USD 50 million line of credit to Sterling Bank Limited in the of Nigeria to support SMEs operating in various sectors, including health, education, agriculture, renewable energy, and transport.

• A €10 million facility to Bénin Cashew SA to co-finance the construction of five cashew nut processing units and a cashew balsam production unit in the Glo Djigbe industrial zone (GDIZ) in the Republic of Benin.

It said this project is estimated to cover 50 per cent of national cashew production needs while creating 1,666 permanent and daily jobs within the framework of Benin’s Strategic Plan for the Development of the Agricultural Sector.

Another Nigerian firm, Mota-Engil Nigeria also received approval for a $180 million line of credit to co-finance the KanoMaradi standard gauge rail project, linking northern Nigeria to Niger.

This strategic project will strengthen regional integration, facilitate cross-border trade, and create over 100,000 jobs during the construction phase and 20,000 permanent jobs once operational.

The newly approved commitments are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, SDG 9 – Industry, innovation an infrastructure, and SDG 13 – Climate Action, as well as EBID’s strategy to develop

priority sectors. With this investment, EBID’s total commitments in the sub-region amount to $4.5 billion.

ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is the development finance institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising 15 Member States namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Based in Lomé, Togolese Republic, the Bank is committed to financing developmental projects and programmes covering diverse initiatives from infrastructure and basic amenities, rural development and environment, industry, and social services sectors, through its private and public sector windows. EBID intervenes through long, medium, and short-term loans, equity participation, lines of credit, refinancing, financial engineering operations, and related services.