ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, 09 November 2018 / PRN Africa / -- The African Development Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, have signed a US$100 million and ZAR 1.3 billion loan agreement to finance industrial and infrastructure projects in South Africa and other African countries. This facility will support IDC in delivering on its industrial mandate.

The Agreement was signed on 7 November during the African Investment Forum in Johannesburg.

Speaking at the press briefing, Pierre Guislain, African Development Bank's Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, said, “We've been working together with IDC since 2010 and they've been a great partner in supporting the “Industrialize Africa” agenda of the Bank'a High 5s. Going forward, we would like to deepen our collaborations by working together even at a sub-project level to further promote industrialization in South Africa and beyond.

An assessment on the impact of the previous facility (US$ 200 million), indicated that collaboration between the Bank and IDC resulted in the creation and retention of over 15,000 jobs in selected sectors including agro-industries, logistics, transport and other industrial infrastructure across multiple countries - Senegal, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland, among others.

The Chief Financial Officer of IDC, Nonkululeko Dlamini said, “This being the third facility from the African Development Bank, we look forward to leveraging it in order to meet our ambitious target to disburse over ZAR 100 billion that will be used to drive industrialization and stimulate job creations in coming years.”

IDC was established in 1940 by an Act of Parliament (Industrial Development Corporation Act, No. 22 of 1940) and it has been instrumental in implementing South Africa's industrial development policy by establishing industries that have since become cornerstones of the country's manufacturing sector. These include the petrol-chemicals, mining and mineral beneficiation industries. The IDC has also been instrumental in the establishment of industries such as fabricated metals, agro-industries, clothing and textiles.

By developing industrial capacity, the corporation achieves specific outcomes, the most important of which includes the creation of employment opportunities through the companies funded by IDC. In addition to job creation, IDC funding enables the promotion of regional development and integration, economic empowerment of communities and black economic empowerment in South Africa. The IDC is committed to promoting sustainable growth and increasing sectoral diversity thereby boosting local production of goods.

Although IDC's priorities and focus areas have evolved over the years in line with the policy direction of its shareholder (the South African Government), the IDC has remained committed to developing South Africa's and the continent's industrial capacity and, in so doing, play a major role in facilitating job creation.

SOURCE African Development Bank (AfDB)