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  • Feed Africa Summit: African Development Bank to commit $10 billion to make continent the breadbasket of the world

    Feed Africa Summit: African Development Bank to commit $10 billion to make continent the breadbasket of the world

    Opening the summit, President Sall — who is also the African Union chairperson — said the time had come for the continent to feed itself
    DAKAR, Senegal, January 26, 2023/ — The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org), will commit $10 billion over the next five years to boost Africa’s efforts to end hunger and become a primary food provider for itself and the rest of the world. Bank Group President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, announced Wednesday at the Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit in Diamniadio, east of the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

    Adesina called on more than 34 heads of state, 70 government ministers, the private sector, farmers, development partners, and corporate executives to work out compacts that would deliver food and agriculture transformation at scale across Africa. He encouraged them to take collective action to unlock the continent’s agricultural potential to become a global breadbasket.

    The Dakar 2 summit — under the theme Feed Africa: food sovereignty and resilience — takes place amid supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. More than a thousand delegates and dignitaries attended, including the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.

    The Government of Senegal and the African Development Bank Group are co-hosting the summit, eight years after the inaugural Dakar 1 summit where the newly elected Adesina announced the Bank’s Feed Africa strategy.

    Opening the summit, President Sall — who is also the African Union chairperson — said the time had come for the continent to feed itself by adding value and stepping up the use of technology.

    Sall said: “From the farm to the plate, we need full food sovereignty, and we must increase land under cultivation and market access to enhance cross-border trade.”

    The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat said the Dakar summit was timely and would provide innovative solutions to help Africa become less dependent on food imports.

    “Food sovereignty should be our new weapon of freedom,” Mahamat told the gathering. He urged development partners to work together within existing structures, such as Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area, for sustainable transformation.

    Mahamat commended the African Development Bank for rolling out transformative initiatives, including a $1.5 billion emergency food production facility in 2022 to help African countries avert a potential food crisis following Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    The President of Kenya, William Ruto, said, “It is a shame that 60 years after independence, we are gathered to talk about feeding ourselves. We can and we must do better.”The African Development Bank Group chief said: “Today over 283 million Africans go to bed hungry every day. This is not acceptable. No mother should ever have to struggle with rumbling of the stomach of a hungry child.”

    “We must raise the bar. We must raise our ambition. We must arise and say to ourselves: it is time to feed Africa. The timing is right, and the moment is now. Feed Africa; we must,” said Adesina.

    The bank head urged the leaders to turn political will into decisive actions to deliver food security for Africa, “We must strongly support farmers, especially smallholder farmers, majority of whom are women, and get more young people into agriculture. And we must take agriculture as a business, not a development activity, and boost support to the private sector.”

    President Higgins of Ireland said with Africa’s young population accounting for about 20% of the world’s young people, the continent had great potential. He said the rest of the world would look up to it in the future.

    “Let us make this century Africa’s Century, one which will see the continent become free from hunger,” Higgins said.

    In his message to the summit, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that Africa was currently facing the challenges of climate change and food insecurity, as the Russia-Ukraine war had caused the price of fertilizers to shoot up and made their supply difficult.

    He pledged the UN’s support to help Africa become a global food powerhouse.

    President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria said countries must offer more robust support for farmers, dedicate a chunk of the national budget to agriculture, and motivate youth and women to farm.

    Buhari said: “Feeding Africa is imperative. We must ensure we feed ourselves today, tomorrow, and well into the future.”

    The Nigerian president commended Dr. Adesina and the African Development Bank for rolling out special agro-industrial processing zones across the continent, including in Nigeria.

    He said: “Special agro-industrial processing zones are game changers for the structural development of the agriculture sectors. They will help us generate wealth, develop integrated infrastructure around special agro-processing zones, and add value.”

    During the three-day summit, private sector players are expected to commit to national food and agriculture delivery compacts, to drive policies, create structural reforms, and attract private sector investment.

    Central bank governors and finance ministers are expected to develop financing arrangements to implement the food and agriculture delivery compacts, in conjunction with agriculture ministers, private sector players, commercial banks, financial institutions, and multilateral partners and organisations

    Contact:
    Kwasi Kpodo
    media@afdb.org

    For more information: www.AfDB.org

    SOURCE
    African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
    Distributed by:APO Group

     

  • Measuring Multidimensional Poverty: Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI), Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Organize Training for Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group Staff

    Measuring Multidimensional Poverty: Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI), Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Organize Training for Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group Staff

    Over 40 staff from the various IsDB Group entities attended the training sessions
    JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, January 26, 2023/ — The Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) (https://IsDBInstitute.org), Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) jointly organized a training workshop on measuring multidimensional poverty. The workshop was designed to build the capacity of IsDB Group staff in producing data-driven research that supports evidence-based policymaking.

    The training was held on the 24-25 January 2023 at the IsDB Headquarters in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

    Tackling poverty and building resilience is one of the strategic pillars of the new IsDB strategy. Hence, the importance of measuring and understanding multidimensional poverty not only to inform policymaking but also IsDB interventions.

    The training focused on the meaning and application of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed by OPHI.

    While poverty has traditionally been measured in terms of income, MPI captures poverty in its many forms, reflecting the depth and breadth of multidimensional poverty.

    The global MPI is an internationally comparable measure of acute multidimensional poverty, developed and published by OPHI and the United Nations Development Programme since 2010. The measure includes information from more than 100 countries and is updated annually. The global MPI 2022 covers 41 of the 57 OIC countries.

    The training was delivered by OPHI’s Director of Programs and Operations, Ms. Corinne Mitchell, and Research and Policy Officer, Ms. Alexandra Fortacz.

    Day one of the training raised awareness about the value-added of multidimensional poverty measures and increased understanding of Multidimensional Poverty Indices and their advantages in poverty efforts for the IsDB Group. Day two focused on the technical aspects of computing and analyzing an MPI.

    In their separate speeches at the opening of the workshop, IsDBI Acting Director General Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem and ISFD Director General Dr. Hiba Ahmed underscored the significance of understanding multidimensional poverty measurement in order to enable IsDB Group to tailor its development policies and programs.

    Dr. Al-Suwailem noted that the workshop “will enable us to acquire and improve our skills in measuring poverty statistics, to eventually produce, interpret, and apply multi-deprivation evidence in shaping our thinking, policies, and interventions.”

    Dr. Hiba Ahmed, for her part, said the partnership among the three institutions “will not only provide us with evidence to guide our policies and interventions but will also build our capacity to undertake poverty interventions tailored to the needs of our member countries.”

    IsDBI, the knowledge beacon of the IsDB Group, develops knowledge-based solutions to tackle member countries’ pressing development challenges. ISFD is the poverty alleviation arm of the IsDB Group. The two organizations have been working with OPHI as part of a wider collaboration with the IsDB Group.

    Over 40 staff from the various IsDB Group entities attended the training sessions.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI).

    SOURCE
    Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI)

     

  • Ghana’s domestic debt restructuring has stalled: four reasons why

    Published: January 25, 2023 11.45am SAST

    Author:

    Associate Lecturer, University of Aberdeen

    Ghana is facing multiple financial and economic challenges and has requested a US$3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it restore macroeconomic stability. This will include bringing public debt down to more manageable levels from the currently estimated 105% of GDP to 55% in present value terms by 2028.

    IMF assistance, which is yet to be approved by the fund’s executive board, is conditional on Ghana restructuring its public debt – domestic and external – which in turn requires the buy-in of bondholders. This means that those who lent money to the government by buying bonds will have to agree to the restructuring, such as a longer repayment period.

    As a first step of the debt restructuring, the Ghanaian government announced a voluntary Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in early December 2022. It seeks to exchange about GHS137.3 billion (US$11.45 billion or about 15% of 2021 GDP) of existing domestic notes and bonds held by various local investors for a package of 12 (initially four) new bonds with different payout dates.

    For any sovereign debt restructuring exercise to succeed, a qualifying majority (usually 75%) of debt holders must agree to change the contract’s key financial terms. This prevents a minority investor group from holding out and preventing the debt restructuring from proceeding.

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    But the subscription to this programme is below 50%, well below the government’s 80% target. Bondholders have stated that the terms offered mean that they will lose money.

    Groups such as the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum have estimated losses of 50% to 90% on their investments if they exchange their current instruments.

    That’s where things are stuck, forcing government to extend the closing date for the bond exchange three times already since early December 2022.

    So what’s gone wrong? Why has the government not been able to get domestic bondholders to accept the terms it has put on the table?

    I offer four reasons: investors face significant losses; the government’s “take-it-or-leave-it” approach; a lack of faith in the government; and the fact that there’s no sense of sharing the burden.

    What’s behind the standoff

    Significant losses by investors: My colleague Dr Yakubu Abdul-Salam estimates that investors will lose 62.40% of their bond’s original market value. The Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum says bondholders will lose about 88.2% of their investments at current inflation levels. Several bondholders have refused to participate. This is contrary to the government’s earlier expectation of “overwhelming support for this exchange”.

    Ghana’s government has so far announced three extensions of the deadline as it struggles to reach the industry benchmark of a qualifying majority. The new 31 January 2023 deadline may not be met either.

    Government’s take-it-or-leave-it approach: Government has presented the plan as a free or voluntary choice. But there are no real alternatives on the table.

    If the restructuring is not carefully managed, it could have a substantial impact on the domestic financial sector, which owns a large portion of the bonds. Any losses within the financial sector then cascade into adverse effects on economic growth, employment and inequality.

    Read more: Ghana and the IMF: debt restructuring must go hand-in-hand with managing finances better

    The government’s approach has been to “divide and conquer”. Instead of meeting all the bondholders’ representatives through, for example, a national debt forum, the government has met some groups individually to offer or change concessions.

    This strategy means one group loses out and another gains. For example, individual bondholders were initially excluded from the bond exchange programme. They were included after pension funds were exempted from the programme.

    Lack of good faith in the government: Bondholders feel that the government has not been truthful about the dire state of the economy.

    The current administration has sought to blame the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic for Ghana’s current economic and financial challenges. The conflict has been a contributing factor but several studies, including one by the World Bank, have shown that Ghana’s finances were precarious even before the pandemic. For example, the country’s external (foreign) and overall debt were at a high risk of distress as far back as 2019.

    In other words, the country had been living beyond its means for years. It only needed an external shock to expose the weakness.

    No sense of burden-sharing: Bondholders have also expressed reservations about the burden of the bond swap not being shared across the society. Nor is it being pitched as though it would achieve better outcomes for the country.

    One of the key lessons from Jamaica’s successful debt exchange programme, as highlighted in a 2012 IMF study, is that

    there was a perception that the burden was being shared across the society to achieve a better outcome for the country as a whole.

    This made the plan acceptable to those directly affected.

    In Ghana’s case, the government’s divisive approach has made it difficult for bondholders to appreciate the severity of the situation and thus reach acceptable comprises. One demonstration of burden sharing, for example, would be to cut wasteful public expenditure and the size of government. Without this, the terms of the bond swap amount to what the convener of the Individual Bondholders Forum has described as

    How can uptake be improved?

    Ghana must comprehensively restructure its public debt and improve its public finances. But the proposed bond exchange must be restructured to increase its chances of acceptance by domestic bondholders.

    How can this be done?

    Firstly, by organizing a national debt forum with all stakeholders. The forum would offer an opportunity for frank conversations with all bondholders present rather than the current siloed divide-and-rule approach whose outcome has been the inclusion, exclusion and re-inclusion of certain categories of domestic bondholders.

    Secondly, the government must renegotiate with the IMF to extend the “below 55% of GDP in NPV terms by 2028” public debt target to at least 2032. This would buy the country time to adjust gradually. The scale of cuts and debt restructuring needed now could be milder. It would also mitigate the ripple effects on the economy, which includes some domestic financial institutions possibly going under due to considerable losses.

    Thirdly, the government must share the burden by cutting down on wasteful expenditure. In Jamaica, they understood the need “to change course, away from a history of continued public debt expansion and government deficits, which had not delivered in terms of economic growth and improved standards of living”. The same could be said of Ghana.

    Source:(The Coversation)

  • Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Expands Asian Capital Market Footprint with US$160 Million Kimchi Loan Facility Led by Mizuho and Shinhan Bank

    Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Expands Asian Capital Market Footprint with US$160 Million Kimchi Loan Facility Led by Mizuho and Shinhan Bank

    The successful closure of the 3-year Kimchi loan facility is a positive indication of Korea’s and more broadly Asia’s growing interest in infrastructure investment opportunities in Africa
    LAGOS, Nigeria, December 7, 2022/ — Africa Finance Corporation (https://www.AfricaFC.org/), the leading infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, is expanding its footprint in Asian capital markets, today announcing the successful closure of a US$160 million Kimchi Term Loan Facility with Mizuho Bank, Ltd. and Shinhan Bank as Bookrunners and Mandate Lead Arrangers (BMLAs). This facility follows the successful execution of the Corporation’s inaugural US$140 million Kimchi loan facility in 2019, its first foray into the Korean debt market. This year, AFC has made several strides in diversifying its funding sources, which include a EUR 100 million loan from the Italian Development Finance Institution-CDP, a US$100 million loan facility from the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and, most recently, a US$389 million dual currency Samurai term loan facility. These milestone transactions are a testament to AFC’s deep expertise, strong credit profile and stellar reputation in global capital markets.

    The successful closure of the 3-year Kimchi loan facility is a positive indication of Korea’s and more broadly Asia’s growing interest in infrastructure investment opportunities in Africa. Last year, Korea pledged US$600 million in financing under the Korea-Africa Energy Investment Framework (KAEIF), moving the country’s focus on the continent from aid to trade and investment. Nigeria, AFC’s host country, was recently declared as Korea’s largest trading partner in Africa by the Korea-Africa Foundation.

    Banji Fehintola, Senior Director & Treasurer of AFC, commented: “We are pleased to have successfully executed on our second Kimchi loan facility, expanding our footprint in Korea and Asian capital markets at large. Today’s announcement serves as a validation of AFC’s strong market access, the strength of our credit profile and our well-established investor engagement programme. We continue to seek strong partnerships with credible institutions across the globe to provide capital for the urgently needed infrastructure required to sustainably transform African economies and change the lives of its people for good.”

    Proceeds from the new facility will be used for refinancing and general corporate purposes in accordance with AFC’s Establishment Agreement and Charter.

    Mizuho Bank has been in close partnership with AFC for some time, with both institutions signing an MOU earlier this year to collaborate on driving sustainable economic growth in Africa and Asia. Mizuho also supported AFC’s Samurai loan facility last month as a Bookrunner and Mandated Lead Arranger (BMLA) and Joint Co-ordinator. Shinhan Bank, a repeat lender on the Corporation’s Kimchi facility, has also proven to be a strong partner for AFC in executing its funding strategy.

    Stewart Wakeman, Managing Director & Head of Sub Sahara Africa at Mizuho commented: “We are delighted to be involved in this landmark transaction for AFC. Our close partnership with AFC combined with Mizuho’s commitment to connect Asian investors to African markets led to the successful execution of this milestone transaction. Over & above this, we are extremely proud to have played a role in this transaction to support AFC in their role towards Africa’s development. “

    Mr Sang Hyun Woo, EMEA Regional Head of Shinhan Bank, commented: “We are absolutely delighted with the result. We delivered another successful execution of AFC’s ‘Kimchi’ facility together with our partner bank, Mizuho. Shinhan Bank arranged the first ever ‘Kimchi’ syndicated facility for one of African multilateral development banks (‘MDBs’) in 2018 and subsequently, Shinhan was mandated and arranged the first ‘Kimchi’ syndicated loan for AFC in 2019. From these successful stories, we have strong appetite to grow our business in the region. Shinhan will continue to look for opportunities in Africa through enhancing relationship with AFC,”

    Other participating financial institutions on the new Kimchi facility include Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Ltd, Hua Nan Commercial Bank Ltd, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, The Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China, Industrial Bank of Korea and Kexim Bank Limited.

    Media Enquiries:
    Yewande Thorpe
    Communications
    Africa Finance Corporation
    Mobile : +234 1 279 9654
    Email : yewande.thorpe@africafc.org

    Gavin Serkin
    New Markets Media & Intelligence
    Telephone: +44 20 3478 9710
    Email: gserkin@newmarkets.media

    About Africa Finance Corporation (AFC):
    AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.

    Fifteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has invested over US$10 billion in 36 countries across Africa since inception.

    www.AfricaFC.org

    SOURCE
    Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

     

     

     

  • Addressing Africa’s Infrastructure Funding gaps

    Nigeria Returns to the Market with N100 billion Sukuk Offer

    By: Mohammed Abu

    Abdul Aziz Adewuyi Abdul Rahman of the Universiti Utra of Malaysia,in his abstract of his paper titled,” Sub-Sahara’s Infrastructure Funding Gap: Potentials from Sukuk Financing” notes that,Sub-Sahara African (SSA) region as a large part of the African continent suffers huge infrastructure deficit mainly as a result of the vast funding gap.

    The negative impact of the infrastructure deficiency continues to constrain socioeconomic development and the general well-being of the people of the region.

    Heavy reliance on the traditional sources of funding by many of the countries in the region, he intimates, has failed to meet ever-growing demands for infrastructural development of the region. Potentials presented by Islamic finance are yet to be exploited by a large number of countries in the region.

    The  study evaluates the depth of utilization of Islamic capital market using Sukuk instruments as another source of funding to fill the observed funding gap for infrastructure development.

    The study finds that the use of Sukuk as a long-term financing instrument is still at its infancy stage in the region. The paper, therefore, suggests that the SSA countries can undertake rapid and massive infrastructure developments in the region through the use of Sukuk instruments, thereby eliminating increasing sovereign debt overhang from the conventional debt market.

    The study also recommends that policy makers in the region put in place required laws and regulations that will provide enabling environments for effective utilization of Sukuk instruments for infrastructural development.

    Similarly, strong political will on the part of the region’s political leaders is essential in nurturing strong institutions that can engender policy continuity to ensure effective and efficient management of infrastructure projects funded by Sukuk instruments.

    It is therefore against this background that, the recent return of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the sukuk market to raise more funds for financing infrastructure could be best appreciated

    The Nigerian Federal government’s Debt Management Office (DMO) recently formally announced the opening of an offering for a 10-year N100 billion(USD225.62m) Forward Ijarah (Lease) Sukuk instrument at a rental rate of 15.64 percent per annum, payable half-yearly.

    The offer which opened on November 21 was due for closure on November 29, while the settlement date is also due on December 2, 2022..

    The offer at N1,000 per unit, an official statement said, is subject to a minimum subscription of N10,000 and in multiples of N1,000 thereafter.
    .
    The Sukuk is a strategic initiative that supports infrastructure development, promotes financial inclusion and deepens the domestic securities market.

    According to the statement, the instrument was issued by FG Roads Sukuk Companies 1 Plc on behalf of the federal government.

    The DMO said that the proceeds from the offer would be used solely for the construction and rehabilitation of key road projects across the six geopolitical zones.

    The offer  which opened on November 21 was due for closure on November 29, with the settlement date due December 2, 2022.

    “It qualifies as securities in which trustees can invest under the Trustee Investment Act,” the statement reads.

    “It also qualifies as Government securities within the meaning of Company Income Tax Act (CITA) and Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) for Tax Exemption for Pension Funds, among other investors.”

    According to DMO, the Sukuk instrument is to be listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited and FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.

    “Classified as Liquid Asset by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and certified by the Financial Regulatory Advisory Council of Experts (FRACE) of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” DMO said
    Since the establishment of the initiative in September 2017, Nigeria has issued four Sovereign Sukuk — 2017 (N100 billion), 2018 (N100 billion), 2020 (N162.557 billion) and 2021 (N250 billion).

    Islamic Capital Markets sources say, the Ijarah Sukuk, which was first issued in Nigeria in 2017, is a domestic component of government borrowings and has given the Federal Government NGN 612,557 billion (USD 1388) to fund 71 roads and six bridges totaling 1,881 kilometres across the country.

  • IBF Industry Stakeholders go back to School in Manama.

    IBF Industry Stakeholders go back to School in Manama.

    ……As CIBAFI-Ivey Business School Resume Collaboration

    Story: Mohammed A. Abu

    The Manama, Bahrain based General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions(CEBAFI), and Ivey Business School, Western University,Canada, have kick started continuation of their productive collaboration through the eight series of their Executive Programme.

    The 2022 edition of the programme themed:” Agile and Strategic Leadership for Succeeding in a Hyper Turbulent World”,will  run for two days,a Press Release issued by CIBAFI in Manama,Monday said.

    “After conducting the last two series of this highly interactive programme virtually, CIBAFI and Ivey Business School convened this year’s programme at the Le Méridien City Centre, Manama, Bahrain.

    “The programme brought together Senior Executives from Islamic banks as well as regulatory authorities to lay the groundwork for a successful agile transformation and to lead cultural and behavioural changes within their organizations.

    “Agile leadership entails being adaptable and responsive to change, as well as empowering team members to collaborate to achieve the organization’s common goals.

    “In today’s fast-paced business environment, managers and executives can engage and empower their employees to become more flexible and adaptive by using an agile st Agile and strategic leadership, in this changing global paradigm, is now an absolute necessity for institutions around the globe.

    “CIBAFI is thankful to the Ivey Business School for their continuous support in jointly organising this world-class and highly interactive learning experience for the leaders of the Islamic financial services industry.”

    Participants,the release added, will learn how to change their mindset and develop fresh concepts so they may test out disruptive and agile initiatives in their organizations.

    Participants will also engage in thought-provoking discussions about As a leading international organisation, CIBAFI continually supports the Islamic financial industry through specific activities and initiatives which promote growth and uphold ethical practices and Islamic finance values in all financial dealings and transactions.

    CIBAFI is committed to facilitating cooperation between members and institutions of common interest as well as providing platforms to discuss emerging issues and share knowledge through specialized publications and comprehensive training programmes.how leadership teams should commit to being vigilant and future proof their organisations.

    Their openness to diverse inputs from anywhere inside or outside the organization, and the extent of active networking outside of their comfort zones will be gauged and tested through a curiosity exercise.

    As a leading international organisation, CIBAFI continually supports the Islamic financial industry through specific activities and initiatives which promote growth and uphold ethical practices and Islamic finance values in all financial dealings and transactions. CIBAFI is committed to facilitating cooperation between members and institutions of common interest as well as providing platforms to discuss emerging issues and share knowledge through specialized publications and comprehensive training programmes.