Cabo Verde, July 20, 2018/- The African Development Bank (AfDB) Board of Directors announced on Wednesday that it will grant the Republic of Cape Verde a € 20 million loan to finance the first phase of the country’s Competitiveness and Local Economic Development Program (PSC-LED), through the dynamization of the private sector.
The objective of the program is to stimulate the private sector and local entities to contribute more to growth and employment and to support private sector-led development, as reflected in the Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development (PEDS) 2017/2021 and with the 2019 State Budget.
The program pays special attention to the national private sector, taking advantage of the comparative advantages of each of the country’s islands and ensuring the spatial distribution of economic opportunities.
This project will help the country to face some of the great challenges facing it as well as support the implementation of the overall development strategy, which will be achieved through specific improvements in the ease of doing business and competitiveness, as well as through further development and decentralization.
Abdoulaye Coulibaly, Director of the AfDB Governance department, highlighted the overall impact of the program that will boost Cape Verde’s private sector competitiveness.
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“In a well-coordinated process with other partners, the Bank emphasized increased competitiveness while ensuring that the spatial distribution of economic opportunities resulting from reforms was standardized on all islands to ensure inclusion. In this sense, local economic development is crucial,” read a statement on the official website of the bank.
It should be noted that the AfDB is a dynamic institution in Cape Verde. The Bank’s portfolio in the country included 11 operations covering US$ 114 million at the end of April 2018. This includes a private sector project – the Cabeólica Wind Project, valued at €15 million. The ICT sector is the leading sector, representing 32.7%, followed by Transport (29.7%), Governance (22.7%), Energy (10.4%), Social (1.6%), water and sanitation (0.8%).