AfDB approves $5.3m PPP grant for four countries, backs Zambia’s private sector growth

The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has announced a series of significant interventions across the continent, including the approval of a $5.3 million grant to strengthen public-private partnerships (PPPs) in The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, and Togo; renewed commitments to Zambia’s private sector growth; and condolences to Ghana following a tragic helicopter crash.

The $5.3 million grant, approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors on 27 June 2025, will be financed through the Transition Support Facility (Pillar III), which provides concessional resources to fragile and conflict-affected countries. The Project to Strengthen the Public–Private Partnership Environment aims to catalyse private investment through three components:

1. Strengthening the PPP environment – creating coherent frameworks, operationalising institutional setups, and building stakeholder capacity to negotiate balanced contracts.

2. Enhancing private sector participation – providing practical case studies to familiarise local businesses and authorities with PPP project cycles.

3. Establishing an effective project management unit – ensuring stable oversight, capitalising on project achievements, and making results visible.

“This project builds on the Bank’s ongoing efforts to improve the business climate and promote the private sector in the four countries, aligning with our strategic PPP framework,” said Solomon Quaynor, AfDB Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialisation.

Meanwhile, the Bank reaffirmed its strong support for Zambia’s private sector-led transformation during the inaugural Invest in Zambia International Conference (IZIC). Hosting a strategic side event themed “Catalyzing Private Sector Growth: Unlocking AfDB’s Financing Toolkit in Zambia”, the Bank engaged private companies, financial institutions, development partners, and government officials.

AfDB Country Manager for Zambia, Raubil Olaniyi Durowoju, stressed the Bank’s deliberate shift towards private sector operations: “Our Zambia Country Strategy Paper (2024–2029) aligns with the Government’s Eighth National Development Plan, with a focus on boosting private sector development through catalytic investments in infrastructure and agricultural value chains.”

The event showcased the Bank’s extensive non-sovereign financing instruments—loans, equity, trade finance, guarantees, risk participation, and blended finance—while sector specialists outlined opportunities in agriculture, transport, and industry. AfDB Regional Head for Private Sector Operations in Southern Africa, Bleming Nekati, noted: “We are building a strong and diversified pipeline of private sector projects for delivery over the next 12 months and beyond.”

In a separate statement, AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina expressed deep sorrow over Wednesday’s helicopter crash in Ghana, which claimed eight lives, including Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed.

“It is devastating news and a national tragedy,” Adesina said. “My wife Grace and I, together with the Bank’s staff, Management, and Boards of Directors, express our heartfelt condolences to President John Mahama, the bereaved families, and the people of Ghana. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.”

Source: HallmarkNews | Continue to Full Story…