The African Development Bank Group (BAD) and UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK export credit agency, signed a memorandum of understanding on 21 October 2026 in Conakry, Guinea, to structure the co-financing of projects on the African continent. This partnership aims to combine the multilateral development bank's resources with the United Kingdom's public guarantees and export credit instruments to increase the funding available for investments in Africa.
Signed on the sidelines of the fifth edition of the UK-French-speaking West and Central Africa Investment and Trade Forum (WCAF V), this agreement constitutes the first formal cooperation framework between the two institutions. It is designed to allow them to coordinate their interventions and identify projects suitable for their respective financial instruments.
In its press release, the BAD specifies that "the memorandum of understanding establishes a framework allowing both institutions to identify, assess and develop co-financing opportunities for sovereign and non-sovereign operations in the Bank Group's regional member countries, drawing on each institution's financial instruments". The mechanism covers two categories of operations.
Sovereign financing pertains notably to projects sponsored by states and public entities, while non-sovereign operations may benefit private enterprises or other actors whose projects do not rely directly on sovereign borrowing. The targeted sectors are energy, transport and other infrastructure, water and sanitation, health, digital technology, critical minerals, agriculture, and trade finance.
These areas account for a portion of the continent's investment needs, particularly to strengthen production capacity, support industrialization, and improve the flow of goods and services between African markets. For beneficiary countries, pooling financial instruments could expand available resources for projects that are difficult to finance solely through public budgets or a single partner.
For companies, guarantees and export credit mechanisms could facilitate the acquisition of equipment and services necessary for the completion of certain investments. However, this cooperation has an important commercial dimension.
UKEF instruments aim to support British exports of goods, equipment, and services. Projects benefiting from its support could therefore involve UK suppliers and companies, allowing London to simultaneously support investments in Africa and the activity of its exporters.
"By combining our financial instruments and expertise, we can mobilize more co-financing for infrastructure, energy and trade, priority sectors of the utmost importance for Africa's growth," declared Tim Reid, Director General of UKEF. This rapprochement occurs against a backdrop of strengthening British financial support for infrastructure projects in West and Central Africa.
On 20 October 2026, the British government announced funding and UKEF guarantees totaling 1,1 billion pounds sterling for operations in the region. It also reported an increase of 1,7 billion pounds sterling in the agency's exposure capacity in this area.
At this stage, however, no total amount has been announced for future projects co-financed under the agreement with the BAD. The volume of investments likely to be mobilized, the terms of risk-sharing between the two institutions, the applicable financial conditions, and the timeline for the first operations remain to be specified.
Claude Paul Tjeg. Published on 23/10/26 14:35.
The Editorial Staff