AfDB GRANTS AIR CÔTE D’IVOIRE €98m LOAN AND €17m PARTIAL RISK GUARANTEE
Air Côte D’Ivoire secures €98m loan and €17.06m Partial Risk Guarantee for its expansion program
The Board of Directors of African Development Bank (AfDB) Group have approved a total of €98m loan for Air Côte D’Ivoire to enable the airline expand its operations. The loan consists of a €51.16 million sovereign loan, €42.64 million private sector loan, and an African Development Fund (ADF) loan of €4.26 million.
The deal also includes a €17.06 million African Development Fund Partial Risk Guarantee in the public-private partnership project which is focused on improving air connectivity in the West and Central Africa region. The partial risk guarantee initiated the participation of commercial banks in the project to a tune of €95.09 million, while Air Côte D’Ivoire is contributing €42.77 million, which totals the investment to €253 million.
The transaction is the first of its kind to use the leveraging power of the partial risk guarantee for the transport sector in Africa.
The project will cause Air Côte D’Ivoire to introduce new routes to Nouakchott, Bangui and Luanda. It also includes acquisition of five(5) Airbus 320 series aircraft.
Some of the benefits of this project will include; promotion of job creation, trade, tourism, and private sector development. It will also support air connectivity and economic activities in seven national economic centers, also there will be an increased air connection to 23 regional locations, which will increase cargo freight by 35% and passenger traffic from 719,972 in 2016 to more than 1.2 million by 2030.
These improvements will contribute to three of the AfDB’s High 5 strategic priorities. One is ‘Integrate Africa’ by increasing air connectivity and intra-regional trade, in land-locked countries and fragile states. It will also contribute to the ‘Industrialize Africa’ and ‘Improving the quality of life of the people of Africa’ priorities through tourism, job creation and private sector development.