Board of directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), through its private sector window, has approved a $150-million line of credit for United Bank of Africa plc (UBA).
The credit will help finance infrastructure and SME projects, including women-owned enterprises in Nigeria.
It will support infrastructure development, particularly the power sector, which is a major constraint for Nigeria’s economic diversification and also inclusive growth.
The power sector-financing gap in Nigeria remains enormous, and almost half of the nation lacks access to electricity.
By leveraging UBA’s branch network, the AfDB wants to scale up lending to SMEs and women enterprises in both urban and rural areas to create more jobs and to promote inclusive growth for Nigeria’s economy by stimulating the various sectors such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture, education and services.
UBA supports various infrastructure projects, particularly power, telecoms, transport and also social infrastructure such as hospital and education facilities, and received the African Investor (Ai) Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year Award in 2015.
It could be recalled that in 2009, the AfDB provided emergency liquidity facilities to address the surging liquidity constraints, which helped trade finance and other lending activities of UBA, contributing to key economic sectors, particularly during the financial crisis.