Kapitalguiden | Updates

03 Aug Alexander Stubb is new Vice-President of the European Investment Bank

Posted at 21:17h in News

“Alexander Stubb has been appointed Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee of the European Investment Bank (EIB). He takes up his duties today, succeeding Jan Vapaavuori, who had tendered his resignation in June.

Mr Stubb, a Finnish national, was appointed by the EIB’s Board of Governors on a proposal from the Finance Minister of the Republic of Finland and with the agreement of the shareholder constituency formed also by Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.

In the Bank’s Management Committee, Mr Stubb will have the oversight of EIB operations in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden and in several countries outside the European Union.”

02 Aug Juncker Plan: EUR 820 million for SMEs as EIF and ProCredit double support for innovative companies

Posted at 10:20h in News

“The European Investment Fund (EIF) and ProCredit Group are providing an additional EUR 450 million to innovative small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), bringing a total of EUR 820 million to companies in eleven countries.

The EIF-backed financing is now available through ProCredit banks from Germany to Georgia and targets companies using new technologies and producing new products in one of the eleven countries where the facility is available (Germany, Albania, Serbia, FYROM, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia). To date, agreements with ProCredit have already supported more than 1,000 innovative SMEs and many more will be financed in the coming years.”

01 Aug AfDB to invest US$24 billion in agriculture in next 10 years

Posted at 12:20h in News

“The African Development Bank (AfDB) will invest US $24 billion dollars in agriculture as part of its Feed Africa programme- a strategy for agricultural development in Africa.

President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, said this in a speech he delivered at the 50th anniversary celebration of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria,

Adesina emphasized that the goal of the Bank is to “ensure that Africa feeds itself within ten years, and unlocks the full potential of its agriculture.”

The IITA hosted a series of events to celebrate 50 years of excellence in research. Dignitaries attended the event from across the continent.”

27 Jul Did you know about AfDB’s Green Bond Program? It can finance your climate smart project in Africa.

Posted at 10:13h in News

“The Bank’s Strategy for 2013-2022 aims to improve the quality of Africa’s growth and is built around two objectives. The first is to achieve growth that is more inclusive, leading not just to equality of treatment and opportunity but to deep reductions in poverty and a correspondingly large increase in jobs. The second objective is to ensure that inclusive growth is sustainable, by helping Africa gradually transition to “green growth” that will protect livelihoods, improve water, energy and food security, promote the sustainable use of natural resources and spur innovation, job creation and economic development. Priorities in reaching green growth include building resilience to climate shocks, providing sustainable infrastructure, creating ecosystem services and making efficient and sustainable use of natural resources (particularly water, which is central to growth but most affected by climate change).”

26 Jul IDB hosts first meeting of multilateral development banks

Posted at 16:10h in News

“KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says it has hosted the first meeting of the multilateral development banks (MDB) working group on the cultural and creative industries (CCI), also known as the Orange Economy, in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The IDB said the meeting, held in Washington DC last week, was organised in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the World Bank Group.

“The purpose of the meeting was to exchange best practices, better understand and tackle existing challenges, increase MDB understanding of CCIs, and explore opportunities for collaboration with this dynamic sector,” the IDB said.”

25 Jul NDF and AfDB establish fund to support climate-resilient urbanisation

Posted at 12:32h in News

“A Nordic Development Fund (NDF) grant will support a new fund to help African cities plan climate-resilient urban infrastructure development

NDF’s Board of Directors has approved an EUR 4 million grant for the Urban & Municipal Development Fund for Africa (UMDF), a project preparatory fund to be established by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

UMDF is aimed at supporting African cities and municipalities to better manage urban growth and climate-resilient development by improving governance and quality of basic services. This aim will be achieved by preparing relevant resilient infrastructure projects, creating planning and risk management instruments, and improving the local capacity for the development and implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation activities.”

20 Jul Press Release: Sweden’s Beyond the Grid Fund for Zambia Signs First Contracts with Energy Service Providers. The Goal: Modern Energy for One Million Zambians

Posted at 23:38h in News

“Sweden’s Ambassador to Zambia Henrik Cederin signed four contracts last Friday with companies offering a variety of rural energy solutions, marking the start of operations of the Power Africa: Beyond the Grid Fund for Zambia (BGFZ). The USD25m Fund, which is financed by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and managed by the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), aims to bring modern energy to one million Zambians, and build a solid foundation for continuing growth of the market such that it can serve all Zambians.”

18 Jul European banking associations present high level principles for banks’ feedback on SME credit applications

Posted at 13:46h in News

“The European Association of Public Banks, together with four other European banking associations (EBF, EACB, EMF-ECBC and ESBG), presented today a set of high-level principles regarding the communication between SMEs and banks around loan applications. The principles, developed in discussions with European SME organisations, aim at promoting high quality feedback on credit applications, enabling SME clients to better understand the reasons behind the bank’s decision.”

14 Jul Donor’s call for increased financial resources for preparation of bankable infrastructure projects in Africa

Posted at 00:00h in News

“Donors from Canada, Germany, UK and Spain have called on other countries to join them in increasing financial contributions to support infrastructure project preparation in Africa so as to accelerate Africa’s transformation and increased socio-economic development through enhanced infrastructure connectivity. They observed that Africa’s regional integration efforts were being undermined by inadequate infrastructure and that this in turn, was due to the lack of bankable infrastructure projects in energy, transport, ICT and water and sanitation which could attract financing for implementation.”

13 Jul END OF THE G20 SUMMIT – Together we can achieve more

Posted at 14:52h in News

“Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared herself satisfied with the outcome of the G20 summit. In the field of trade, she reported at the close of the summit in Hamburg, agreement was reached that markets must be kept open. The major industrialised states and emerging economies also agreed to fight protectionism and unfair trade restrictions.”