Support to Middle-Income Countries

Bank Group’s approved operations for middle-income countries (MICs) in 2009 (excluding multinational projects/programs) rose to an unprecedented level of UA 4.35 billion. This was in response to the  financial crisis and high demand for Bank Group resources. This represents a 291.9 percent increase, compared to UA 1.11 billion approved for operations in MICs in 2008. In light of their relative integration  into global financial markets, their close trade links with the rest of the world, as well as the  tight funding conditions, MICs in Africa – as in other continents – were hard-hit by the global  financial crisis. Consequently, the MICs turned to the Bank as their preferred partner to financing some of their investments.

In terms of its sectoral focus for MICs, infrastructure remained the top priority with a 54.2 percent  share, followed by multisector at 37.2 percent. This is consistent with the Bank’s Medium-Term Strategy  (2008- 2012). The geographical distribution of the MICs’ financing program in 2009 recorded a major shift. Departing from the pattern of the previous 6 years, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) received the largest proportion of approvals in terms of value (78.2 percent) compared with North Africa (21.8 percent). This  shift can be explained by 2 large loans approved for South Africa (UA 1.73 billion for the Medupi Power  Project) and Botswana (UA 969.0 million for the Economic Diversification Support Loan). In terms of  financing instruments, project lending was the major financing vehicle in 2009, accounting for 65.3  percent of total approvals for MIC operations, while policy-based lending represented 34.1 percent.