BOAD RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM ITS SHAREHOLDERS FOR ITS CAPITAL INCREASE

Lomé, February 16, 2022:   The BOAD has successfully concluded the first stage of its capital increase for more than half of its $1.5 billion objective. In order to meet West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) States’ growing financing needs, accentuated by the Covid-19 crisis, and support a sustainable and socially inclusive economic development, the BOAD has decided to increase its capital. In September 2020, BOAD’s Board of Directors approved the Bank’s new strategic plan (the « Plan Djoliba »), which relies on a $1.5 billion (FCFA 837 billion) capital increase enabling the Bank to double its equity level in order to increase its commitments by more than 50% over the next five years.

BOAD’s regional shareholders (A Category), the eight WAEMU Member States, who are playing a leading role in this capital increase, are working to take all the necessary measures to accompany and support their Regional Development Bank alongside the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), in this useful and necessary change of scale for the proper execution of the Plan Djoliba 2021-2025.

BOAD’s non-regional shareholders (B Category) – the African Development Bank, China, the European Investment Bank, France, Germany, the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom of Morocco – are supporting this momentum, willing to support the BOAD and the economies of the WAEMU zone. Some of them, including France, the African Development Bank and the Kingdom of Morocco stand ready to subscribe to this capital increase from 2022 onwards, thus strengthening BOAD’s capital as well as its capacity of intervention.

The success of the Bank’s regional and non-regional shareholders’ joint mobilization is an essential first step in the implementation of the institution’s capital increase and the deployment of its strategic plan over the next five years.

Serge Ekué, President of the BOAD, commented on the conclusion of this first stage: “This first milestone in the Bank’s capital increase is a historic moment for our institution. The participation of our shareholders illustrates the robustness of our capital as well as the commitment of our partners to support BOAD’s action within the WAEMU region. It will allow us to significantly increase our capacity to act in favor of WAEMU’s economic development and regional integration.”

About the West African Development Bank

The West African Development Bank (BOAD) is the common development financing institution of West African Monetary Union (WAMU) Member States. As a public international institution, the purpose of the BOAD – under the terms of the Article 2 of its statutes –  is “to promote the balanced development of Member States and to achieve the economic integration of West Africa” by financing priority development projects. It is accredited with the three climate finance financing mechanisms (GEF, AF, GCF). Since 2009, the BOAD sits as an observer at the UNFCCC and actively participates in discussions on the construction of an international climate finance architecture. Since January 2013, it is hosting the first Regional Collaborating Center (RCC) on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), that aims to provide direct support to governments, NGOs and the private sector, for the identification and the development of CDM projects. It is an active member of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) which brings together 24 national, regional and bilateral development banks and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

For more information:

Department of Communication and Public Relations

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Email: boadsiege@boad.org