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Cameroon is working with Africa Finance Corporation (www.AfricaFC.org) to create an infrastructure that will help transform the economy into a manufacturing hub, now exporting mostly raw minerals, generating job creation, transfer of skills and higher export earnings.
Joined as AFCs 36th As part of the government’s Vision 2035 program, Cameroon, as a member state, will work with the company on key infrastructure to deepen integration, enable import substitution and develop manufacturing and industrial capacity, which accounts for 40% of GDP. AFC, Africa’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, has so far provided Cameroon with over $300 million to extract value from the country’s natural resources, which include corn, cassava, cotton, cocoa, oil and gas, and energy transition metals such as cobalt and nickel .
Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said, “We are committed to working with the AFC to rapidly and sustainably build critical support infrastructure that will contribute to Cameroon’s development.”
With a mission to solve the continent’s most pressing challenges, AFC has invested over $10 billion over the past 15 years, leveraging its unique access to global capital markets to drive development, integrate regional economies and life to change. Through its ecosystem investment approach, AFC has developed and funded projects such as the first carbon-neutral industrial zone in Africa, the Nkok Special Economic Zone, which has made Gabon the world’s largest exporter of plywood and generates $1 billion in annual export revenue creating over 30,000 jobs. With an investment of US$150 million, the approach will be replicated by the Arise platform in Benin and Togo to generate a projected additional GDP of US$750 million and US$2 billion respectively.
AFC has partnered with 17 other countries over the past four years, with Angola and Tunisia joining this year. Benefits to member countries include increased investment allocation, preferential access to AFC’s structuring and lending solutions, reduced project debt costs, and the firm’s advisory and project development services.
The membership of Cameroon, the largest economy in the Central African Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC), expands the AFC’s presence to more than half of Central Africa and includes Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon.
AFC President and CEO Samalia Zubairu said: “We are delighted to welcome Cameroon as a member of AFC. Our fast-growing membership is a sign of confidence in our past collaborations and shows interest in partnerships and initiatives that will continue to drive economic development and play a critical role in enabling critical infrastructure.”
Projects currently under investigation by AFC and Cameroon include upgrading and maintaining roads to boost trade in the region and financing agricultural processing plants to support cottonseed and soybean exports.
In 2018, AFC invested in Nachtigal Hydro Power Company, a 420 MW power plant that will increase Cameroon’s installed capacity by 30 percent and reduce the cost of generating electricity. Four years earlier, the company supported the modernization and expansion of Cameroon’s national refinery, the Société Nationale de Raffinage (Sonara).
The Cameroonian government seeks public-private partnerships to help build infrastructure that can create more opportunities for advancement and make a real impact on its diverse population.
“Having already invested US$300 million in our country, AFC has a proven track record of delivering core infrastructure,” Prime Minister Ngute said. “We look forward to building on our existing relationship.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
Media Inquiries:
Yewande Thorpe
communication
Africa Finance Corporation
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Gavin Serkin
New Markets Media & Intelligence
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About AFC:
AFC was founded in 2007 as a catalyst for private-sector led infrastructure investments across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialized industry knowledge with an emphasis on financial and technical advice, project structuring, project development and venture capital to meet Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.
Fifteen years later, AFC has developed a track record of being the preferred partner in Africa for the investment and deployment of instrumental, high-value infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of energy, natural resources, heavy industry, transportation and telecommunications. AFC has invested over $10 billion in 35 countries across Africa since its inception. www.AfricaFC.org
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