West Africa is made up of 16 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe (São Tomé and Príncipe is included in West Africa for operational purposes), Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The subregion has the greatest linguistic, geographic, and natural resources diversity. Apart from Cape Verde and Nigeria, all the countries in the subregion are ADF-eligible only (except for private sector and enclave projects which can draw funding from ADB resources). As blend countries, Cape Verde and Nigeria can borrow from both the ADB and ADF windows. Bank Group loan and grant approvals for West Africa declined from UA 1.24 billion in 2009 to UA 595.8 million in 2010, which is a decrease of 52.0 percent. Nonetheless, in 2010 West Africa was the second highest recipient of loans and grants after North Africa. Approvals to the subregion in 2010 accounted for 16.2 percent of total approved loans and grants.

Fourteen countries in the subregion benefited from loans and grants, namely: Ghana (UA 111.0 million); Senegal (UA 70.8 million); Nigeria (UA 67.8 million); Mali (UA 66.5 million); Niger (UA 54.2 million); Benin (UA 43.0 million); Burkina Faso (UA 35.2 million); Togo (UA 32.5 million); Liberia (UA 31.2 million); Sierra Leone (UA 29.2 million); Côte d’Ivoire (UA 23.0 million); Cape Verde (UA 20.5 million); Guinea-Bissau (UA 5.7 million); and São Tomé and Príncipe (UA 5.0 million).

The key projects approved for West Africa during the year included: the Ghana Fufulso–Sawla Road project; an LOC to Guaranty Trust Bank, plc in Nigeria; the Blaise Diagne International Airport in Senegal; the Markala Sugar Project in Mali; the Electricity Infrastructure Strengthening and Rural Electrification Project in Burkina Faso; the Accelerated Development and Poverty Reduction Support in Niger; the Togo–Sanve Condji– Benin Border Road Rehabilitation Project in Togo; and the Ndali–Nikki–Chicandou Nigerian Border Road Asphalting Project in Benin. There was also a HIPC approval for Liberia, as the country had reached its Completion Point.

In terms of the sectoral distribution of approvals for the subregion, infrastructure attracted the lion’s share at UA 365.6 million (61.4 percent). The subsector split for infrastructure shows transportation to have attracted the largest tranche, at UA 249.5 million (68.3 percent), followed by water supply and sanitation, at UA 76.7 million (21.0 percent), then energy at UA 39.0 million (10.7 percent), and finally communications at UA 0.3 million. The allocations to the other sectors were: multisector, UA 69.3 million (11.6 percent); finance, UA 67.8 million (11.4 percent); agriculture and rural development, UA 66.2 million (11.1 percent); social sector, UA 25.5 million (4.3 percent), and industry, mining, and quarrying, UA 1.3 million (0.2 percent). The distribution by sector highlights the Bank’s selectivity and strategic focus on projects that will improve the subregion’s infrastructure, support good governance, and reduce poverty.

The Bank Group’s cumulative loan and grant approvals to the subregion for the period 1967–2010 amounted to UA 11.96 billion, representing 21.4 percent of total cumulative allocations to the continent. Nigeria received the largest share, followed by Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Benin, Niger, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Togo, Cape Verde, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe shows the sectoral distribution of the cumulative loan and grant approvals for the period 1967–2010. Infrastructure (comprising transportation, communication, energy, and water and sanitation) was allocated the largest share (33.4 percent); then agriculture and rural development (18.8 percent); multisector (16.5 percent); social (13.8 percent); finance (10.3 percent); industry, mining, and quarrying (6.7 percent); and others (0.5 percent).