With intra-regional trade stalled at less than 12% of total commerce, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is stepping up its financing for critical areas like infrastructure, industrialization, and trade. The goal is to intensify efforts that make regional economic integration a concrete reality.

On April 3, 2025, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has approved 180 million dollars in financing for a key railway line linking Kano in Nigeria to Maradi in Niger, the bank announced from its Lomé headquarters.

The project, which stretches several hundred kilometers, is meant to improve access across the Sahel, increase the flow of goods between the two countries, and create a new strategic freight corridor connecting Nigeria’s industrial center to Sahelian markets. The contract was awarded to Mota-Engil Nigeria. EBID says the initiative supports its goal of using regional integration to strengthen stability and economic growth despite ongoing political uncertainty in West Africa.

Trade in West Africa Still Stagnant

Despite new rail projects and other infrastructure investments, trade between ECOWAS neighbors remains limited.

 Intra-ECOWAS trade accounts for less than 12 percent of total commerce, a level that has barely changed in a decade. This is below Africa’s average of about 16 to 17 percent and far behind other regions, including about 59 percent in Asia and 66 percent in Europe, according to 2024 UNCTAD data.

This situation underscores how limited trade integration remains in West Africa, even though countries have had a free trade area, a common external tariff, and harmonized transit rules for several decades. The infrastructure exists, but the trade flows have not followed.

The main causes are well known. Logistics networks are fragmented, transport costs are high, non-tariff barriers persist, and local industries remain weak. A 2024 ECOWAS-OECD report noted that most countries still export raw materials mainly to Europe or Asia rather than to neighboring markets.

EBID Focuses on Infrastructure to Unlock Trade

EBID believes in the potential of intra-regional commerce and in the catalytic role of infrastructure. Since becoming operational in 2004, the bank has approved 5.68 billion dollars for 389 projects. Its current commitments total 4.54 billion dollars across 194 active projects. Nearly 44 percent of these commitments target infrastructure.

The bank finances physical integration projects including roads, bridges, ports, power plants and railways. It is involved in rehabilitating several major corridors such as Abidjan to Ouagadougou, Dakar to Bamako, Cotonou to Niamey and Lomé to Ouagadougou. EBID is also participating in the Abidjan to Lagos highway project which covers about 1,030 kilometers and is the most important coastal corridor in West Africa.

In 2024, regional integration infrastructure in transport and energy represented almost one third of EBID’s approvals, which amounted to 465.3 million dollars approved and 398.8 million committed.

In June 2025, the bank approved an additional 174 million euros and 125 million dollars for projects in at least four countries covering roads, industrial zones, dams and electrical interconnections.

Strengthening Production and Trade

Infrastructure alone is not enough if countries do not produce or trade. EBID is therefore expanding its focus to three levers: SME financing, trade facilitation and the energy transition.

The year 2024 marked a shift in the bank’s strategy. About 36.15 percent of new commitments, equal to 158.9 million dollars, went to industrial development. The bank aims to increase local processing, reinforce regional value chains and reduce dependence on imports.

Priorities include industrial zones, agro-processing units and support for manufacturing SMEs in landlocked countries. EBID President Dr Georges Donkor Agyekum told Ecofin Agency that the bank is investing in regional production as much as in connectivity in order to create more added value.

Expanding Trade Finance

Production only has an impact when goods reach markets. EBID is therefore strengthening its trade finance operations.

At its 88th session in July 2024, the bank was authorised to contract a short-term trade loan of up to 140 million dollars with Standard Chartered Bank London. The loan is guaranteed by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and is intended to support liquidity and reduce trade finance costs.

One year earlier, the African Development Bank approved a trade finance credit line of 50 million dollars and 50 million euros to expand access to trade finance, especially for SMEs in agricultural value chains that often lack collateral.

These tools complement a 50 million euro Afreximbank loan for 2023 to 2027 and several credit lines with India Exim Bank totalling more than 1 billion dollars since 2006. These resources are used largely to finance electricity interconnection projects that facilitate power trade between member states.

EBID also channels part of these funds through local banks. In 2024, it approved a 20 million euro line for BCI Guinea to support regional transactions. In 2025, it provided a 40 million dollar facility to Vista Bank Guinea and a 10 million dollar facility to Vista Bank Sierra Leone to support SMEs involved in regional commerce.

Long-Term Commitment to Integration

Despite political tensions in the region, EBID continues to finance long-term projects that support what the bank describes as de facto integration. In September 2025, the board approved 308 million dollars for agro-industry and infrastructure, confirming its long-term commitment.

The African Continental Free Trade Area remains a key objective. According to EBID’s revised strategic plan, the bank aims to mobilise up to 1 billion dollars to help countries in the region implement AfCFTA protocols involving connectivity, trade facilitation and enterprise support.

Fiacre E. Kakpo