• Includes largest ever annual EIB financing for climate action in Africa and 71% in fragile states
• Leading Team Europe response to back COVID-19 health investment and economic resilience
• EIB investment improving access to clean water, green energy and flood protection for millions
• Mobilised EUR 1 billion of new investment to improve opportunities for women and girls
• Unprecedented EIB activity in Africa confirmed ahead of EU-Africa Green Investment Forum

In 2020 the European Investment Bank provided EUR 5 billion for new private and public investment across Africa. This represented the largest annual EIB engagement in 55 years of operations on the continent and the largest support for climate action and investment in fragile states.

Financing and technical support provided by the EIB in Africa last year is backing more than EUR 12 billion of new investment to improve agriculture, access to off-grid renewable energy and accelerating rural electrification, affordable housing, communications, climate resilience and climate insurance for small holders, healthcare and private sector access to finance.  

Overall EIB backing for investment in Africa represented a 50% increase on engagement in the previous year. This reflected the rapid response to strengthen public health investment, ensure access to safe and affordable to COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX and accelerated access to finance to increase economic resilience and help entrepreneurs and private business to withstand unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic.

“The EIB is fully engaged in supporting a green recovery for Africa through finance and expertise, also on the ground. In recent weeks, ahead of today’s EU-Africa Green Investment Forum in Lisbon, the EU Bank and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU have brought together thousands of development partners across Africa in a series of Green Talk dialogues. This is a great demonstration of how investment in Africa can and must deliver sustainable development building on best-practice.”, said Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.

Backing transformational investment across Africa and supporting vulnerable regions

The latest EIB engagement directly supported 58 projects in 28 African countries. In sub-Saharan Africa 71% of the new EIB engagement confirmed in 2020 is supporting investment in fragile states and least developed economies.

The new high impact projects backed by the EIB last year include securing access to clean drinking water for more than five million people in Egypt, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tunisia, connecting rural communities to clean energy across Chad, the Comores, Gambia, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda and transforming waste management in secondary towns across Senegal.

Last year the EIB provided EUR 2.4 billion for private sector investment across Africa. This included new initiatives with local financial partners and microfinance institutions to improve access to finance by small holders, entrepreneurs and business in Benin, Kenya, Mali, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Malawi, Morocco and Senegal.

Improving public health and economic resilience to COVID-19  with African, European and global partners

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the EIB has rapidly approved new support to strengthen public health and ensure entrepreneurs, business and agriculture can access finance during challenging times.

This included support for enabling public health response to the pandemic in Benin, Niger and Morocco and reducing the risk of COVID-19 at public water supplies in Kenya.

The EIB also agreed to back Senegal’s national economic resilience initiative and accelerate private sector financing targeting sectors most impacted by the pandemic in partnership with Afreximbank and local financial institutions across Africa.

As part of Team Europe, in December 2020, the EIB provided EUR 400m to help to rapidly roll out COVAX supplies of affordable COVID-19 vaccines to Africa. This accelerated up-front investment has enabled vaccine deliveries in recent weeks across the continent and represents the largest ever EIB support for public health outside Europe.

The EIB stands ready to increase support for COVAX alongside other donors enabling procurement of additional COVID-19 vaccines, and to overall strengthen vaccine manufacturing, diagnostics and public health in low and middle-income countries.

Accelerating climate action by harnessing clean energy and adapting to climate change

EUR 3.4 billon – over two-thirds – of the new EIB financing in Africa in 2020 is supporting climate action. This includes scaling up renewable energy and improving access to off-grid energy, improving energy efficiency and protecting urban areas and strategic infrastructure from extreme weather and a changing climate.

Mobilising EUR 1 billion to increase female economic empowerment in Africa through SheInvest

At the end of 2020 the EIB reached its target of unlocking EUR 1 billion of new investment to support gender equality and female entrepreneurs through the SheInvest initiative, launched in Johannesburg in November 2019 and guided by the global 2X gender financing standards.

SheInvest is helping to transform gender equality and demonstrates the impact of gender focused lending to increase participation of women and girls in the economy and labour market.

Working with global, African and European partners to accelerate deliver sustainable development

On 23rd April United Nations Secretary General Antionio Guterres and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will open the EU-Africa Green Investment Forum, hosted by EU Portuguese Presidency and the European Investment Bank.

The EU-Africa Green Investment Forum will bring together more than 1,000 participants, both in Lisbon and online from around the world to share sustainable investment best practice, including through catalysing digitalisation and strengthening economic resilience.

The EU-Africa Green Investment Forum is the largest event for dialogue focused on investment in Africa to take place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.