A partnership with Africa

How the European Investment Bank delivers on EU policies in Africa and our future plans for development and partnership across the continent

European Investment Bank

• Publisher: European Investment Bank
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9789286150562
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Africa is embarking upon a period in which its political, economic and social outlook will transform. The European Investment Bank is a key part of the EU toolbox that for decades has helped make the partnership between Africa and Europe stronger. We aim to maximise our potential as the EU bank, so that we can join our African partners in addressing today's critical challenges together and embrace our opportunities. This publication lays out our track record in Africa and our vision for our future partnership with the continent.

Our experience in Africa

The European Investment Bank is the EU bank, supporting sustainable investments inside and beyond the European Union. We are an EU body with a treaty-based mandate to implement EU development policy. Half of our €9.3 billion investment beyond the European Union in 2020 was in Africa.

We are:

• a reliable financing catalyst, leveraging and crowding in other financing sources. We offer solutions for quality investments, including blended finance, local ownership and long-term finance on sustainable terms;

• a knowledge sharer, focusing on local needs, including skills development and technology transfer;

• an inclusive partner, promoting dialogue and collaboration among diverse partners and stakeholders.

We have deep expertise in climate action, large private and public infrastructure projects, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), energy, mobility, water, health and other sectors.

The core of our effort is to ensure long-term impact on lives through sustainable development. That means applying sound social and environmental safeguards in line with the spirit of EU legislation and best international practice, and promoting social sustainability, inclusiveness, job creation, environmental benefits, transparency and accountability. Our focus on impact also means supporting investments that attract still more investment, such as enabling infrastructure, and pursuing a long-term, sustainable approach to investment and its financing, including local ownership and developing skills.

Financing climate action and the technology that supports the green transition is our priority. We fulfilled a commitment to provide at least 35% of our loans outside Europe to climate action projects by 2020. We aim to reach at least 50% by 2025.

Our contribution to the Team Europe COVID-19 response, spearheaded by the European Commission, is mobilising up to €7.3 billion in global commitments for our partner countries. Partnerships like this are essential to answering such a global challenge, and the Team Europe model is now the foundation of much of what we do, even beyond pandemic-related investment. In 2020, we quickly stepped up our support for Africa in the face of the pandemic and maximised our impact in tackling the health and economic consequences by working closely with our partners as part of Team Europe. For Africa, our Team Europe contribution has focused on building health and economic resilience, including investments in the green economy and sustainable jobs, sustainable and inclusive agricultural transformation, a smart green and digital recovery, stability and business development, energy and economic governance. Partnering with the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, we invested an initial €400 million in the innovative COVAX financing instrument that enables poorer countries to access donor-funded doses of COVID-19 vaccines. In 2021, we increased our COVAX financing to €600 million.

We systematically crowd in other public and private financial institutions. We lower the cost of strategic investment in Africa because of our efficient capital structure, which brings a favourable cost of funding through our bond issuance. We have a comprehensive product offering for the private sector from targeted long-term finance, de-risking operations, capital markets instruments and loans blended with European Commission funds to make our investments more impactful.

The European Investment Bank plays a key role in building a resilient Africa. Our Economic Resilience Initiative in North Africa and the ACP Migration Package have helped countries seize the opportunities generated by new technologies, trade agreements and productivity gains. We know we can do even more for job creation and sustainable and inclusive economic growth with the right financial structures and mandates from individual countries, the European Union and other donors.

Climate change

Africa will be the part of the world most affected by climate change, although it contributes least to the problem. The continent faces an increased threat from extreme weather—such as tropical storms, flooding, rising sea levels, sand erosion and long-term droughts—which influence agricultural yields, food and water security, ecosystems, livelihoods, health, infrastructure and migration. By damaging vital resources and increasing competition for natural resources, climate change is likely to increase poverty, inequality and unemployment. Failure to address climate change could further intensify political, social, ethnic and religious tensions as more communities struggle to secure access to resources.

Our investments contribute to the building of the infrastructure that helps mitigate climate change and allows Africans to adapt to its unavoidable impact on their lives. For example, solar-powered mobile phone towers like the ones financed in Guinea with our $30 million loan extend the network, but they also cut out diesel power.

We support an inclusive approach to the low-carbon transition in Africa. We help increase resilience for the communities and businesses most affected by climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. One of our projects in The Gambia is a good example, as a partnership with the European Commission. The project consists of a big solar plant, improvements on the transmission network and—because it will take time to bring electricity to all the population—installation of solar panels on every rural school and every rural clinic in the country.

Climate change and conflicts are key drivers of forced displacement. Of the 33.4 million new displacements in 2019, 23.9 million were weather-related and 8.5 million were due to conflict and violence. In the long term, climate change is likely to become the single most imp...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Africa’s challenges and opportunities
• Africa and the EIB: The story of a partnership
• How we work to support the priorities of the Africa-EU Partnership
• Our experience in Africa
• Instruments
• What we will do
• Copyright