The Central Africa subregion is made up of seven countries: Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are the only two countries that can borrow from the ADB window. The other five countries are only eligible to borrow from ADF resources, other than for private sector and enclave projects. In 2010, the subregion was allocated UA 234.6 million, representing 6.4 percent of the total Bank Group loan and grant approvals to all the five subregions. The total approvals for this subregion in 2010 show a drop of 14.7 percent compared to 2009.

The five countries to benefit from loan and grant approvals in 2010 were the Democratic Republic of Congo, UA 158.3 million; Cameroon, UA 71.7 million; Congo, UA 3.4 million; Chad, UA 0.7 million; and Gabon, UA 0.5 million.

The two largest project approvals for the subregion were both for the Democratic Republic of Congo, namely the Priority Air Safety Project (UA 88.6 million) and the Semi-Urban and Rural Electrification Project (69.69 million). Cameroon attracting funding for four smaller projects in various sectors, namely: the Dibamba Power Project; the Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Project; the Project to Strengthen and Extend the Electricity Transmission and DistributionNetwork, and the Support Project for the Modernization of the Land Restoration System and Business Climate. The Congo benefited from approved financing for one multisector project, viz. Institutional Support to Improve the Business Climate and Diversity of the Congolese Economy.

The sectoral distribution of 2010 approvals to the Central African subregion largely mirrors that of the other subregions, in that infrastructure attracted the highest allocation, at UA 223.0 million (95.0 percent). Of this amount, the energy subsector received UA 124.4 million (55.8 percent); transportation, UA 88.6 million (39.7 percent); and water supply and sanitation, UA 10.0 million (4.5 percent). The other sectoral allocations were as follows: multisector, UA 10.4 million (4.4 percent); agriculture and rural development, UA 0.7 million (0.3 percent); and social, UA 0.5 million (0.2 percent).

The Bank Group’s cumulative loan and grant approvals to Central Africa during the period 1967–2010 amounted to UA 4.73 billion, which represents 8.5 percent of the total cumulative approvals to the continent. The Democratic Republic of Congo received the largest amount, followed by Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea. The sectoral split for this cumulative figure shows infrastructure with the largest tranche (46.7 percent), followed by multisector (18.1 percent), then agriculture and rural development (14.5 percent), social (12.5 percent), industry mining, and quarrying (6.5 percent), and finance 1.6 percent. This confirms that the Bank is maintaining its operational focus on those sectors that will accrue the greatest economic gains for the continent.