Tanzania has become the fourth country in the region to be a shareholder of the Pan-African infrastructural financier Africa50, expanding the institution’s pool of investors to 34 and widening its access to capital for projects.
Tanzania’s Finance and Planning Minister Mwigulu Nchemba signed the share subscription agreement in Casablanca, Morocco, making Dar the 34th shareholder of the continental financier, joining among others, Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The institution is now owned by 31 African countries, the African Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States, and Morocco’s central bank – the Bank Al-Maghrib.
Since its formation in 2012, Africa50 has made 19 investments, with an aggregate value of over US$5 billion. In the energy sector alone, over 17 million people are accessing reliable and cleaner electricity as a result of projects financed by Africa50. In addition to its investments in energy, Africa50’s diverse portfolio includes sectors such as transport and logistics, ICT, midstream gas, education, healthcare, and fintech.
In the East Africa region, it has invested in three projects in Kenya – a fixed internet company, a data center, and a public-private partnership project for electricity transmission – and one project in Rwanda – an ICT technopark.
“Tanzania is keen on developing its infrastructure to support the economic development of the country and we are pleased to join Africa50 as a shareholder to leverage on their expertise to deliver the government’s priority infrastructure projects and we are looking forward to working closely on our strategic project taking place in our country,” Dr. Nchemba said.
Africa50 Chief Executive Alain Ebobissé said the institution also “looks forward” to supporting Dar’s infrastructural projects “with our project development and finance expertise” while calling on more African countries to join the institution’s investors.
“There is an urgent need for African countries to increase investments in sustainable infrastructure to support economic development,” Ebobissé said.