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IFC joins $15 Billion Africa Support Package

The World Bank Group, including IFC, has joined with six other international financial and development institutions to provide at least $15 billion in financial support to Africa over the next two to three years to prevent the global economic crisis from reversing decades of progress, growth, and investment in the region.

The Joint Action Plan for Africa, announced in May at the African Development Bank’s annual meetings in Dakar, Senegal, recognizes that pooling resources and expertise will enable governments and institutions to more effectively help the region deal with the global economic slowdown. It follows similar coordinated initiatives announced recently in Central Europe and Latin America.

IFC Vice President Thierry Tanoh said, “As part of the World Bank Group, IFC will work hard with the partners in this initiative to limit the impact of the global economic crisis on the lives of Africans, especially the most vulnerable. Partnerships such as this help us leverage our resources to be more flexible and have a larger impact, and IFC is committed to ensuring that these initiatives are implemented quickly and effectively.”

IFC's Contribution

IFC’s contribution will consist of at least $1 billion. It will consist of programs to:


  • Facilitate trade through the Global Trade Finance Program and Global Trade Liquidity Program
  • Strengthen the capital base of banks using the IFC Recapitalization Fund
  • Improve infrastructure by increasing investment in the sector through the Infrastructure Crisis Facility
  • Increase microfinance lending
  • Promote agribusiness companies


    • IFC is already moving ahead with implementing its contribution to the plan. Standard Bank recently became the first African bank to sign an agreement to receive funds under the Global Trade Liquidity Program.


    Microfinance lending in Africa is also being quickly scaled up, and IFC expects to announce the first African bank to receive funds from the bank recapitalization fund in the first quarter of FY10.

    To round out the World Bank Group's contribution, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will front-load and fast-track its IDA commitments and increase access to funds for non-IDA countries, accelerate fund disbursements, and launch a concessional window to finance high priority infrastructure.

    The World Bank Group's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) will provide up to $2 billion of investment guarantees to prioritize investor demand for infrastructure investment, small and medium enterprises, and the financial sector, including banks and microfinance institutions.

    Institutions participating in the joint action plan are the African Development Bank, the Agence Française de Développement Group, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the European Investment Bank, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) through the KfW Bankengruppe, the Islamic Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.


    For more information contact:
    Houtan Bassiri
    Communications Officer
    Johannesburg, South Africa
    Tel: +27 11 731 3179
    Email: hbassiri@ifc.org