African Development Bank provides $11.23 million to Madagascar for energy, agriculture and pest control
The Government of Madagascar and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) have signed five project financing agreements in Antananarivo, for an approximately $11.23 million.
The first two agreements focused on the financing of the Youth Entrepreneurship Promotion Program, worth $ 7.23 million, of which $ 6.23 million in donations and $ 1 million in loans. The project aims to train and finance 410 young people, 50% of them women, to become entrepreneurs integrating agricultural and agro-industrial value chains.
Two other financing agreements of around $3 million were also signed during the ceremony, for the preparation of projects to be financed in 2019. This is the study of the project to strengthen and interconnect electric power transmission in Madagascar (PRIRTEM).
This study will prepare the major construction project for the Tamatave - Antananarivo transmission line associated with the reinforcement of the Antananarivo distribution network. The second study focuses on the preparation of the Integrated Agricultural Growth Cluster Project in the South (PICAS).
The latest agreement is for a $ 1 million emergency grant to support the country's efforts to combat the resurgence of the plague epidemic in Madagascar.
The resources of this grant will be administered by WHO and will be used, inter alia, for the acquisition of equipment and medical inputs and the establishment of a strengthened surveillance system.
Signing for the Malagasy government, the Minister of Finance and Budget, Vonintsalama Sehenosoa Andriambololona, welcomed the good relations between the ADB and his country, saying that the financing in the sectors of energy and agriculture will contribute to accelerate the transformation of agricultural value chains, industrialization and the creation of formal wage employment.
They will also contribute to meeting the basic health needs of the people. Skills development and support for small and medium-sized enterprises will also be part of the activities.
Cosigner for the Bank, the Country Manager, Mohamed Chérif emphasized the relevance of the agreements. "This is for the AfDB, to concretize the implementation of the country strategy paper 2017-2021, with the objective of supporting the efforts of Madagascar by paying more attention to the elimination of structural constraints that prevent the country to embark on a path of strong and shared economic growth, focused on structural transformation and the creation of higher value-added jobs. "
The Country Leader recalled that the Board of Directors of the ADB Group approved, on November 22, 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, the Country Strategy Paper (DSP) of Madagascar, which aims at developing infrastructure energy and transport to support inclusive growth and support for agricultural transformation and industry development.
The five signed financing agreements are in line with this intervention strategy, agreed with the Government of Madagascar, in support of the 2015-2019 National Development Plan (NDP).
The Bank began operations in Madagascar in 1977, and as of 31 December 2017, it approved a total of 89 operations, mainly in the transport, industry, finance and agriculture sectors, for a total of cumulative amount of UA 1.3 billion / US $ 1.88 billion.
The current portfolio of the Bank in the country includes 14 operations for a total of UA 185.14 million. It covers three main sectors: agriculture, transport and governance.
