The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has signed two loan agreements to the tune of 7.3 billion CFA francs with companies from Mali and Senegal. The agreements were signed at EBID headquarters in the Togolese capital, Lome, with Mr. Bashir Mamman Ifo, president of EBID, signing on behalf of the regional bank.

The first loan agreement involving 5 billion CFA francs was signed between EBID and BMS or (Banque Malienne de Solidarité) and the second one estimated at 2.3 billion CFA francs in favour of SCL Energie Solutions is meant for the partial financing of the Mbour rural electrification concession project, in the Republic of Senegal.

According to an EBID press release made available to News Express, the credit lines granted to these two institutions form part of the bank’s commitment to finance and support the private sector in West Africa, one of the major vectors for growth and development in line with its 2010-2014 strategic plan.

Mr. Ifo pointed out the importance of these two credit lines meant to support the priority programmes of governments of Mali and Senegal. He said: “The objective of these financing facilities, it should be pointed out, is to reduce poverty by improving the standard of living of the population groups. In the case of Mbour, in Senegal, the project, more specifically, seeks to improve the service level by hooking 111 communities onto the national grid, thereby increasing the rate of electrification to 80%.”

The EBID Chairman added that “these projects will eventually contribute not only to the improvement of the welfare of the population groups, but also to grassroots development.”

On his part, the CEO of BMS, Mr. Babaly Ba, explained that the credit line will be devoted to the refinancing of grants given by his bank to Malian enterprises for their investments in various projects through the purchase of industrial equipments, the purchase of heavy equipments for companies operating in the sector of BTP which are vital for the reconstruction of Mali after the crisis which rocked the country for several months.

Mr. Ba stressed the need for his bank to continue supporting projects aimed at improving livelihood of deprived population at the grassroots in accordance with its commitment.

After signing the partial loan agreement, the chairman of the council of administration of the Senegalse company, SCL Energie Solutions (SCL-ES), Mr. Mor Kasse, stressed the need for his institution to play a major role in the sector of energy in Senegal in order to make it possible for the population in rural areas to have access to quality and low-cost electricity.

“The main objective of the republic of Senegal in its policy designed for the sector of energy is to make available quality and low-cost energy to the population both in the urban and rural areas,” Mr. Kasse said.

He also expressed hope that this loan agreement will mark the beginning of long term prosperous mutual partnership between the two institutions for the welfare of the population.

Banque Malienne de Solidarité is Malian limited liability banking company created in 2003 with a capital of 12.5 billion FCFA.

The objective of the bank is to contribute towards the economic development through concessional loans to SMEs operating in the private sector in Mali.

SCL Energie Solutions Plc is a Senegalese limited liability Company registered under Senegalese law with a capital of 300 million FCFA.

News Express reports that EBID is an international financial institution which effectively began operations on January 1, 2004 and had by the end of September 2011 approved a total of 132 projects estimated at 584 million Units Accounts (UC), or 933 USD million.

EBID was created following the transformation of the erstwhile ECOWAS Fund established in 1975, together with the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat (now ECOWAS Commission) with the aim of contributing to creation of conditions for the emergence of an economically strong, industrialised, prosperous and well-integrated West Africa.

•Photo shows President Bashir Ifo of EBID (left) and Babaly Ba Managing Director of BMS of Mali, signing the contract of loan agreement at the headquarters of EBID.