The Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has granted a credit line facility of Euros 3 million to Novo Banco to enable the Cape Verdean public bank to finance the activities of medium and small enterprises of its over 9,000 customers.

The line of credit was made available at a signing ceremony which took place last week at EBID’s headquarters in the Togolese capital, Lome.

Mr. Bashir Ifo, President of EBID, signed on behalf of the sub-regional bank whilst Mr. Jorge Carlo Moura, Director General of Novo Banco, signed for his institution.

According to Mr. Bashir Ifo, the line of credit will help Novo Banco to finance activities of small and medium enterprises in Cape Verde.

He also explained that line of credit goes in the same line with EBID’s goals to finance and support the private sector in the member states of ECOWAS in accordance with its 2010-2014 strategic plan.

“As you know, EBID cannot directly finance some of the sectors of the member states. So we sometimes go through national banks to finance these services. So this is why EBID is financing the medium and small enterprises in Cape Verde through Novo Banco,” Mr. Bashir said.

He added that “one of the goals of the bank it is to assist member states in the fight against poverty through job creation. So this line of credit granted to Novo Banco in Cape Verde will help to achieve this goal.”

On his part, Mr. Moura, after showing the appreciation of the people of Cape Verde to EBID, said the line of credit would be allocated to some areas that need financing.

“In Cape Verde, we have some enterprises in some areas that need financing to start their activities. So this line of credit is for these enterprises,” he said.

He also stressed that the line of credit is important for Cape Verde which has become middle-income economy to sustain development to the benefit of the population.

This new credit line facility brings the total projects financially supported by EBID in Cape Verde to 19 180 804 UC.

Novo Banco created three years ago by the Cape Verdean Government has a financial portfolio estimated at 9 million euros.

EBID is an international financial institution belonging to the 15 member states of ECOWAS.

EBID contributes to the attainment of the goals of ECOWAS by assisting in the financing of the regional infrastructure projects or any other development project under the public and private sectors.

The interventions of the bank are in the form of short, medium and long term direct loans, equity participation and guarantee.

•Photo shows EBID President Bashir Ifo and Director General of Novo Banco, Mr. Jorge Carlo Moura, at the signing ceremony.