The African Development Bank Group and ATIDI, the pan African multilateral insurer, have signed an agreement making the insurer a strategic partner of the Lusophone Development Compact.
This marks a significant step forward for both the Lusophone Compact initiative and ATIDI in their joint efforts to provide de-risking instruments and credit enhancement solutions to attract private investments and mobilize capital for transformative projects in Portuguese-speaking African member countries or the PALOPs.
The partnership was signed on Wednesday, 13 December at the African Development Bank headquarters in Abidjan, by African Development Bank Vice President Marie Laure Akin-Olugbade, Acting Chair of the Lusophone Compact Steering Committee and Kodjo Attaty, senior underwriter for ATIDI.
The Lusophone Compact, a financing platform involving the African Development Bank, Portugal, and the six signatory PALOPs, provides risk mitigation, investment products and technical assistance to accelerate private sector development in the member countries. The initiative became effective in December 2018.
As part of the agreement, ATIDI will deploy its risk-mitigating solutions to the Compact's member states. ATIDI's investment grade A-rated guarantees has already benefited a number of PALOP countries, including Angola and Mozambique. In April 2023, the Republic of Angola became the first Lusophone member state of ATIDI with a capital subscription of $25 million from proceeds of the landmark BITA Water Project supported by ATIDI. Recognized by the 2022 African Bankers Awards as Infrastructure Deal of the Year, the BITA water development project benefited the lives of over two and a half million people, enabling them to gain access to potable water services in Luanda.
The African Development Bank is a shareholder in ATIDI and supports the organization's mandate and efforts to expand its geographical footprint across the continent, alongside other strategic development partners such as the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the German Development Bank (KfW). The Bank has supported seven African member countries using resources from the African Development Fund (ADF), its concessional lending window, to become members of ATIDI, through loans and grants totalling UA 52.82 million (USD 71 million).
Akin-Olugbade said: "Through this partnership agreement, the Lusophone Compact Initiative intends to leverage ATIDI's broader ability to support the private sector, using its innovative products to reduce reliance on sovereign guarantees and diversify their economies. "This aligns with the Compact's efforts to create an enabling environment for private sector development."
"This partnership is a milestone for ATIDI and is aligned with is one of the pillars of our 2023-2027 corporate strategy. Bringing our unique risk mitigation solutions to member states of the Lusophone Development Compact can only fast-track private sector investment within Portuguese speaking Africa, and enable transformational, responsible, sustainable and eco-friendly projects f benefit the people and governments of PALOP countries. ATIDI will play its critical role to the fullest to help achieve this noble development goal," said Manuel Moses, ATIDI's CEO.
In next steps, the Compact anticipates the signature and ratification of ATIDI legal instruments by PALOP governments for ATIDI's membership and an update on ATIDI's efforts to identify alternative sources of membership financing for African member countries.
To learn more about the Lusophone compact click https://www.afdb.org/en/compacto-lusofono
About ATIDI
ATIDI was founded in 2001 by African States to cover trade and investment risks of companies doing business in Africa. ATIDI predominantly provides Political Risk, Credit Insurance and Surety Insurance. Since inception, ATIDI has supported USD78 billion worth of investments and trade into Africa. For over a decade, ATIDI has maintained an 'A/Stable' rating for Financial Strength and Counterparty Credit by Standard & Poor's, and in 2019, ATIDI obtained an A3/Stable rating from Moody's, which has now been revised to A3/Positive.
Contact:
Amba Mpoke-Bigg, Communication and External Relations Department, email: [email protected]
Technical Contact:
Neima Ferreira, [email protected]
