Washington, D.C., February 24, 2009
—The Japanese government is contributing $1million to help IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, provide training to strengthen the ability of African financial institutions to structure trade finance transactions amid the global economic crisis.
Japan’s contribution will be used to support the IFC Trade Finance Advisory Services Initiative, which is part of the $3 billion Global Trade Finance Program. The program extends and complements banks’ capacity to deliver trade financing by providing risk mitigation in challenging market conditions where trade lines might be constrained. Trade guarantees are especially important during the recent global economic turbulence, helping to maintain market confidence and to keep trade flowing.
Japan’s contribution comes in response to IFC’s action plan to further expand its trade finance operations in Africa. That plan was announced during the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in 2008. Since then, IFC has guaranteed more than $428 million trade transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We would like to thank Japan for their generous contribution,” said Georgina Baker, IFC Director for Short Term Finance. “This contribution will be used for various training programs in Africa to scale up the local banks’ trade finance operations where it is needed most.”
Japan has made large contributions to support emerging-market countries during the global crisis. On February 17, it launched a $1 billion trade finance facilitation initiative to be developed in close cooperation with IFC and the Asian Development Bank. Japan also has agreed to contribute $2 billion to IFC’s Bank Recapitalization Fund to support banks in emerging markets.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
