The Country Relations (CR) department plays a major and vital role in the growth and success of the Corporation, by maintaining a strong relationship with African states.
CR acts as the liaison between existing/prospective member states and the Corporation; bringing together partners in the public and private sectors in infrastructure development and financing.
The CR Department’s core strategy is anchored in positioning the Corporation as an enabler of infrastructure development across Africa. Working closely with other departments, CR acts as a business origination engine for the Corporation.
Role of AFC’s Country Relation Department
Country Membership
Membership of AFC is open to all African Countries/States. The Corporation currently has twenty-seven (28) member states:
- Nigeria (Host Country)
- Benin
- Cape Verde
- Chad
- Congo Brazzaville
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Djibouti
- Eritrea
- The Gambia
- Ghana
- Gabon
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Mauritania
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritius
- Namibia
- Rwanda
- Uganda S
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Membership Procedures
AFC’s has two levels of Membership:
I. Membership Only
A prospective Member Country/State may join the AFC by signing the Instrument of Adherence and ratifying the Constitutive Instruments of AFC, namely the AFC Establishment Agreement and the Charter through its cognitive/constituent authority.
II. Membership & Shareholding
Member States may elect to make financial commitment/ investment and become shareholders through their designated entities (e.g. Central Banks, Sovereign Wealth Funds and State Pension Funds or regional or sub regional development financial institutions) at any time convenient to the member country.
Additional information on investing in AFC is available upon the receipt of an expression of interest to invest in the Corporation.
As a world-class multilateral financial institution with the goal to bring the world to Africa, AFC also welcomes shareholding from both regional and non-regional institutional investors looking to have infrastructure as an asset class.
Ratification of AFC Membership
Member countries, upon acceding to membership, are required to ratify AFC’s Constitutive Instruments in line with their national laws, essentially domesticating the AFC Treaty into local law, in accordance with the requirements of the Country’s internal protocols. Subject to the country’s laws, this may include both ratification by:
- the Cabinet/ Council of Ministers, and;
- the National Assembly/ Parliament/ President.
Benefits of AFC Membership
The key benefits of AFC membership are highlighted below:
Membership of AFC is open to all African Countries/States
A prospective Member Country/State may join the AFC by signing the Instrument of Adherence and ratifying the Constitutive Instruments of AFC, namely the AFC Establishment Agreement and the Charter through its cognitive/constituent authority.
Membership of AFC is not subject to membership fees
We do not believe that countries should pay membership fees or annual fees to benefit from investments and/or interventions from multilateral finance institutions such as the AFC. By incorporating project finance structures, economic infrastructure projects can be self-funded, consequently contributing more to the Government bourse, and thereby reducing budgetary requirements from Governments.
Competitive Financing for Projects in Member Countries
Sovereign states, upon accession to membership, grant the Corporation a preferred creditor status. In some cases, this obviates the need for political risk insurance to cover country risk on project loans. Given that project risk insurance is usually an additional cost to project loans, country membership and ratification of such membership may have the likely effect of reducing the average cost of debt financing for projects, therefore improving the bankability of projects in member countries.
Increased Investment Allocation to Member Countries
Member countries of the Corporation benefit from a significant amount of investment origination and advisory services. We focus strongly on developing an understanding of the National Developmental Agenda of the Governments of member countries. Our advisory and project development teams work closely with public and private sector partners to develop project financing opportunities across our focus sectors.
In addition, the Preferred Creditor Status accorded to AFC by member countries, provides an immense incentive for AFC to invest in the country. AFC has the ability to catalyze funding on the back of (i) its international status in countries and (ii) strong relationships with credible international and regional partners. The Corporation is able to syndicate financing for projects in member countries; raising almost 4-6 times its own commitment, in most cases.
Access to Public Sector Advisory & Project Development Facilities
Member Countries have preferred access to AFC’s (i) a US$5MM Public Sector Advisory Facility, and (ii) Project Development Facility, all designed to
advancing projects to bankable stages and increase the number of projects attaining financial close in Africa
AFC has established a Public Sector Advisory Facility wherein about US$5MM of its balance sheet has been committed to assisting Public Sector Institutions in member countries to advance projects which are at ideation stages. The envisaged ticket size per transaction / concept will range between US$200,000 to US$250,000 and the funds from the facility will primarily be used to provide liquidity for (i) Initial business plan and preliminary feasibility studies, (ii) Early environmental scoping and impact assessment studies , (iii) Preliminary financial modelling (iv) Project development schedules/activities and (v) Regulatory framework scoping.
AFC launched its Project Development (PD) Facility in 2012. The purpose of the PD facility is to provide early stage investments in infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose and objective of the facility is to (i) Increase the pipeline of bankable projects on the continent; (ii) Support projects across a wider range of agreed sectors (e.g. Power, Transport Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Heavy Industries and Telecommunications). AFC’s commitment is on an average up to US$15MM.
Contact
Country Relations
Africa Finance Corporation
Address: 3a Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos
Email: countryrelations@africafc.org
Phone: +234 1 279 1208
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