African Development Fund provides $16m in loan and grant financing to Niger

By Edlyn Cardoza

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund, the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank Group, has approved $16 million in loan and grant financing to Niger to implement the Financial Sector Deepening and Inclusion Project.

The project will strengthen mobilisation of long-term resources for financial service providers and improve the financial inclusion of vulnerable populations, particularly women, youth, rural dwellers, and micro, small and medium enterprises.

“We are delighted with this collaboration between the African Development Bank Group and Niger. By strengthening the capacity of the Financial Inclusion Development Fund and financial service providers, this project will help diversify the sources of financing for Nigerien small and medium-sized enterprises and increase financial inclusion in Niger,” said Ahmed Attout, Head of the African Development Bank’s Capital Markets Development Division.

Specifically, the project will contribute to establishing a financing mechanism conducive to the needs of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises through the capitalisation of the Financial Inclusion Development Fund and strengthening the technical and operational capacities of financial service providers, particularly the decentralised financial systems. This will enable them to develop financial products and services adapted to the population’s needs. All of this is to increase the financial sector’s resilience and reduce poverty in Niger.

Niger’s Minister of Finance, Ahmat Jidoud, said he welcomed “this support from the African Development Bank which will strengthen the technical and financial capacities of financial service providers in Niger, in particular decentralized financial systems, which will make it possible to broaden access to financial services to the greatest number of our citizens, especially those living in rural areas.”