Stockholm (NordSIP) – The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is cooperating with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to launch a €95 million loan facility for projects with Nordic and Baltic interests in African countries.
NIB finances sustainable and development projects within and beyond its member countries of Denmark Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. Projects deemed eligible involve Nordic-Baltic interests and conform to the NIB’s mandate of improving the competitiveness of Nordic and Baltic countries, which involves offering long-term loans and guarantees on competitive market terms to clients in the private and public sectors.
In this instance, financing will be provided through the DBSA, the South African state-owned development finance institution focused on infrastructure finance and implementation, which has a regional mandate, to projects in countries belonging to the Southern African Development Community.
“Cooperation with the DBSA provides us with a new opportunity to support investments of mutual interest and in line with NIB’s mandate in southern Africa,” said NIB Head of Financial Institutions & SME Marjo Harri. “When considering potential allocations, we will target infrastructure projects but not exclude any sectors, except the ones on NIB’s exclusion list.”
DBSA was previously a client of NIB in the late 1990’s, when it fully allocated a $30 million facility to projects in Zambia and Mozambique.
“The DBSA is committed to playing a meaningful role in redressing Africa’s infrastructure gaps. We therefore value partnerships such as this one with NIB, which contributes to furthering our mission to deepen our development impact in the region,” said Ernest Dietrich, Group Executive for Treasury and Capital Management at DBSA.
NIB enjoys an AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s.
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