AFC to sign $320m deal with Italy to bolster Lobito funding
Africa Finance Corporation, a Lagos-based continental financier, will sign a deal with Italy for $320-million financing partly for a new transport corridor linking critical mineral fields with an Angolan port, its chief executive said on Thursday.
AFC, which is owned by African central banks and development lenders, is the financing partner for the United States-backed rail and road corridor linking the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic coastline with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the minerals are mined.
"The government of Italy has continued to express their support for the project. There will be a signing event of the facility that they are going to advance for the project," Samaila Zubairu told Reuters in an interview after the launch of the financier's annual Africa infrastructure report.
There will also be a meeting in Rome focusing on the Lobito corridor project as it is known, in the coming weeks, he added.
The Lobito rail corridor is a project to help transport critical minerals from the central African copperbelt to the West and is considered key in countering Chinese control over copper and cobalt supplies in the region.
Some of the cash from the Italian government will go towards AFC's regular lending operations, he said, without giving a precise split.
AFC, which usually aims to raise $2-billion to $3-billion every year, has raised more than $1-billion this year so far, and it is looking to raise roughly $1-billion more via a syndication facility soon, Zubairu said.
"We have a huge syndication that we are launching shortly," he said, without providing more information.
Comments
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.
VISIT SHOWROOM
We supply customers with practical affordable solutions for their testing needs. Our products include benchtop, portable, in-line process control...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
