Southern Africa comprises 12 countries,namely Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Five of these countries (viz. Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland) are eligible for ADB resources. Zimbabwe, as a blend country, can access funds from both ADB and ADF windows, although it has been under sanctions since 2000. The remaining six countries (Angola, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia) are ADF-eligible only, except for private sector and enclave projects, which permit resources to be drawn from the ADB window.Bank Group loan and grant approvals to the subregion declined from UA 3.40 billion in 2009 to UA 492.8 million in 2010, representing a 85.5 percent decrease.This was mainly due to the absence of any large budget support loan in thesubregion, compared to 2009 when two budget support loans amounting to UA 1.51 billion were approved for Botswana and Mauritius. Nonetheless, the loan and grant approvals for the subregion in 2010 exceeded that of 2008 by 3.6 percent and represented 13.4 percent of total approvals to all the five subregions.

The nine beneficiary countries were as follows: South Africa, UA 403.7 million; Mozambique, UA 37.9 million; Zambia, UA 32.6 million; Malawi, UA 14.7 million; Botswana, UA 2.1 million; Zimbabwe, UA 0.7 million; Namibia, UA 0.6 million; Mauritius, UA 0.3 million; and Swaziland UA 0.3 million. South Africa, which has consistently been the major beneficiary of Bank Group approvals in the subregion since 2007, retained this position in 2010.

The four key approvals for Southern Africa were for the following projects and programs: Transnet Limited in South Africa; the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (an LOC); the Montepuez– Lichinga Road in Mozambique; and the Third Poverty Reduction Budget Support in Zambia.

The sectoral distribution of the 2010 approvals in the subregion shows that infrastructure was allocated UA 309.8 million (62.9 percent) of the total. Within this allocation, the transportation subsector was allocated UA 304.6 million (98.3 percent); and water supply and sanitation, UA 5.3 million (1.7 percent). The share of the other sectors was as follows: finance, UA 133.0 million (27.0 percent); multisector, UA 47.8 million (9.7 percent); social sector, UA 1.3 million (0.3 percent); agriculture and rural development, UA 0.7 million (0.1 percent); and UA 0.3 million to industry, mining and quarrying.

The Bank Group started its operations in the subregion in 1969. Southern Africa’s cumulative Bank Group loans and grants for the period 1969–2010 totaled UA 10.90 billion. This amounts to 19.5 percent of allthe cumulative approvals for the continent. South Africa received the highest share,followed by Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius Zimbabwe, Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Namibia. In terms of sectoral distribution, infrastructure received the highest cumulative approvals (44.9 percent), followed by multisector (22.4 percent); finance (10.9 percent); agriculture and rural development (10.1 percent); social (7.1 percent); industry, mining, and quarrying (4.6 percent); and environment (0.1percent).