(Ecofin Agency) - The financing supports EBID’s 2021-2025 strategy to assist small and medium enterprises in ECOWAS.

EOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, EBID, and Vista Group Holding signed a €50 million loan agreement on October 12, in Marrakech. The deal was sealed on the sidelines of the ongoing annual assembly of the World Bank and IMF.

The loan is to help SMEs in the ECOWAS develop their activities, helping them “respond to the growing demands of the population in terms of consumer goods, agribusiness, technology, etc. while continuing to build regional value chains for durable socio-economic development.”

This is a significant deal, especially given that Vista Group Holding just acquired Oragroup, a major banking group active in ECOWAS’ French countries. Based in Lomé, Oragroup is among the WAEMU’s top 10 banking groups. Through its acquisition, Vista Group Holding is expanding its action range in the region.

The agreement with Vista Group Holding aligns with EBID’s 2021-2025 strategy. Under the latter, the regional lender aims to raise $1.35 billion by 2025 to finance 131 projects in the ECOWAS region. Out of this pool of projects, 85 should be private and 46 public.

Last week, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and EBID also signed an agreement for a dual currency credit line–$50 million and €50 million–to support local agribusinesses in West Africa. According to EBID, the three-and-a-half-year facility is designed to provide direct financing to commercial banks and local companies operating in the agricultural and commodity sectors in its member states.

Fiacre E. Kakpo