Washington, D.C., May 30, 2002
- The International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group, will provide a US$30 million line of credit to United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), a Nigerian commercial bank.
The agreement was signed in Washington, D.C. on May 21 by IFC Executive Vice President, Peter Woicke and UBA Chairman Hakeem Belo-Osagie. Also present at the signing was Richard H. Kaijuka, World Bank Group Alternate Executive Director.
Mr. Woicke said at the signing, “We hope the project will strengthen Nigeria’s financial sector and help to address the need for long-term private sector investment.”
UBA will use IFC’s financing to make loans to private Nigerian enterprises in the manufacturing, telecommunications, agribusiness, transport, and service sectors. Over the past decade, persistent economic and political uncertainty combined with governance issues has curtailed private sector investment in Nigeria, which requires massive investments to replace decaying infrastructure and restore private sector operational capacity.
IFC’s mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956 through the close of the last fiscal year on June 30, 2001, IFC committed more than $31 billion of its own funds and arranged $20 billion in syndications for 2,636 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s committed portfolio at the end of FY01 was $14.3 billion.
