The African Solidarity Fund (ASF) mission is currently in the country for a seven-day visit to interact with different stakeholders in the private and government sectors on how to provide various financial guaranteed products to enable access to finance.
The mission followed The Gambia's accession to the ASF fund in June 2023.
The African Solidarity Fund (ASF) is a multilateral, financial guarantee institution and its purpose is to contribute to the economic and social development of its regional member states by facilitating access to credit for states and private enterprises in its area of operation, to finance productive investment projects, and to mobilise local and external savings, in particular by providing loan guarantees on the financial markets.
In a briefing held at the Ministry of Finance at Banjul, Abdoulie Jallow, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance, told journalists that ASF visits to support both sovereign and non-sovereign operations, adding that their interventions are mainly targeting transformative programmes.
PS Jallow said that ASF is looking at sectors that would support the economy such as agro-industrial activities, telecommunications, construction, and financial services.
"They are concentrating on the diverse areas of the economy. We have preliminary discussions and their attention is to support the investment in transformative economic sectors. We have discussed the financial services sector, agro-processing sector, construction, agriculture, and other sectors that are important in helping our economy to grow. We have also discussed tourism and how they can intervene in the energy sector," Jallow stated.
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Jean Berchmans Nkurunziza, Central Director in Charge of Strategy and Operations at ASF, expressed delight that The Gambia joined the ASF and became a member of the secret family of African countries that are willing to work together and transform the African economy.
"We are convinced that if Africa wants to be developed, it should be the work of Africans. That's why we appreciate the commitment of the Government of The Gambia to join our other member countries. And that's why in less than two months, we decided to come and speak with relevant authorities to work to transform the economy," he said.
According to Ms Nkurunziza, their strategic plan aims to transform African countries to do more transformative activities to support agriculture and help countries mobilise foreign funds.
