Equity Bank Dr James Mwangi (left) signs the agreement with AfDB Director for Eastern Africa Regional Resource Centre Gabriel Negatu for a $148 million credit line. Looking on is Equity Company Secretary and Director of Corporate Strategy Mary Wamae and Africa Development Bank Principal Country Programme Officer, Kenya Samuel Kamara.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has given Equity Bank a credit line of $148 million (Ksh14 billion) for onward lending to boost private sector development through financing of strategic projects in Kenya.
Equity Bank CEO Dr James Mwangi confirmed the funds would be availed to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises seeking business related growth loans. “The credit from AfDB will deepen Equity Bank’s lending capacity to vital economic sectors such as manufacturing, agribusiness, transportation, financial services, telecommunications, construction and energy,” Dr Mwangi said.
The African Development Bank’s Director for the Eastern Africa Regional Resource Centre, Mr Gabriel Negatu, noted that the credit is well aligned with the priority areas of the Kenyan Government, the African Development Bank and Equity Bank.
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“The proposed project is perfectly aligned with structural transformational themes espoused in the 2013-2022 ten-year Strategy of the bank which identifies a number of core operational areas for intervention in support of the objective of assisting African countries attain more inclusive growth and gradually transitioning to green growth,” said Mr Negatu.
AfDB’s funding will contribute to diversifying and lengthening the maturity profile of Equity’s funding and enhance its ability to extend medium to long-term financing to viable projects and borrowers. The provision of foreign currency resources for on-lending to entrepreneurs importing dollar-priced machinery and equipment also fosters additionally by providing a natural foreign-currency risk hedge.
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