Kenya is the latest country to become a member of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a leading pan-African multilateral development finance institution and project developer.
Kenya is AFC’s 15th member and third East African member after Rwanda and Uganda. AFC’s other members are: Cape Verde; Chad; Côte d’Ivoire; Djibouti; Gabon; the Gambia; Ghana; Guinea-Bissau; Guinea; Liberia; Nigeria and Sierra-Leone.
The announcement comes one month after AFC Live, Africa’s premier infrastructure summit, at which AFC celebrated ten years of activity in the field and welcomed more than 600 leading thinkers from government, academia, business and finance to debate the opportunities and the challenges of investing in infrastructure in Africa.
“Kenya is one of the largest economies on the continent and has long been a regional hub for East Africa, its pivotal geographical location at the intersection between East and South making it a commercial centre bridging the two regions. As one of largest financers and developers of infrastructure in Africa, AFC is perfectly placed to help improve the quality of Kenya’s infrastructure, enabling the country to capitalize on its strategic position and strong growth prospects.” AFC said in a statement.
AFC already has a large presence in Kenya and Dyer & Blair Investment Bank is a founding shareholder of the Corporation. Through AFC’s flagship joint venture with Harith General Partners, which combines both companies’ energy assets into one portfolio, AFC has a vested interest in Lake Turkana Wind Farm, which aims to provide Kenya with approximately 15% of its installed energy capacity.
In addition, AFC has invested US$50 million in ARM Cement, a listed company head quartered in Nairobi and which engineers, builds and operates cement plants.
In 2015 AFC provided a US$25 million loan to Kenya Power and Lightening Company for the rehabilitation and expansion of Kenya’s power transmission and distribution network.
AFC proactively finances and manages the development of key infrastructure projects which have a positive impact on the lives of Africans across the continent. To date, the Corporation has invested approximately US$ 4 billion in projects across 28 countries in a wide range of sectors including power, telecommunications, transport and logistics, natural resources and heavy industries.
Related;
AfDB & Japan Sign US$ 300 Million Loan to support Africa’s Private Sector
Kenya’s Carole Wamuyu Appointed Chief Operating Officer of AFDB’s Africa 50 Fund
