The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is examining a commitment to contribute to the financing needs of SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. This will be an agreement to be signed with the Bank of Africa (BOA) by the end of 2022. The support of $154 million (97.36 billion FCFA) targets several BOA subsidiaries, including that of Benin.

The commitment under review at the SFI level should help to provide a very small solution to their funding needs. Thus, by the end of 2022, the SFI will decide on the possibility for the institution to sign a risk-sharing agreement worth a total of $77 million with the Bank of Africa. (BOA). This resource will allow ten subsidiaries of the banking group mainly controlled by Moroccan capital to be able to grant loans totalling $154 million to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their respective markets.

The subsidiaries BOA Benin, BOA Burkina Faso, BOA Cote d'Ivoire, BOA Ghana, BOA Madagascar, BOA Mali, BOA Niger, BOA Senegal, BOA Tanzania, and BOA Togo are affected by this project. “As part of this project, the SFI will support the expansion of loans to SMEs from this regional banking group in sub-Saharan Africa,” the SFI explained.

The SFI initiative contributes to a package of existing responses to enable African SMEs to recover, after a difficult period of Covid-19 and a high cost of living crisis, which are having an impact on the liquidity of economic agents.