Global development finance coalition commits over USD 5.5 billion for MSME financing in Africa

At the first Finance in Common Summit (FICS) in November 2020, the EDFI Association, on behalf of its 15 European member development finance institutions (DFIs), together with African Development Bank (AfDB), FinDev Canada, Islamic Corporation for the Development (ICD), U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (US DFC), and West African Development Bank (BOAD) launched a coalition for a sustainable and inclusive recovery of the private sector, later joined by the Trade and Development Bank (TDB).

Under this coalition, the DFIs all committed to dedicate at least USD 4 billion of financing to micro, small and medium size entreprises (MSMEs) in Africa, between mid 2020 and end of 2021. This initial target has been exceeded, whereby DFIs jointly committed over USD 5.55 billion of financing of MSMEs in Africa over the period. In addition to this challenge, the signatories to the coalition committed to (i) deepen cooperation among their institutions, (ii) focus on inclusive financial solutions for the private sector and (iii) support clients with technical assistance and advisory services when needed.