Tunis, 4 December 2006 – The African Development Fund (ADF) will make available UA 6.83 million, equivalent to 10.5 million (LSL 69.68 million) in supplementary road project loan to the government of Lesotho. The ADF Board approved the loan during a weekly meeting on Monday in Tunis.

The proposed program aims at enhancing accountability and transparency throughout Malawi’s public sector and supporting targeted legal reforms aimed at improving access to justice, curbing corruption, and accelerating the law reform process.

To this end, the loan will help Malawi meet its external financing gap for 2004 towards enabling the Government implements the governance improving measures, which are articulated under the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The loan program targets reforms in the following two main areas:

Tunis, 13 December 2006- The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (ADB) approved on Wednesday in Tunis, under its private sector window, a Line of Credit (LOC) of US$ 35 million to Access Bank PLC of Nigeria.

This LOC will be utilised by Access Bank to finance the establishment, expansion, modernisation and diversification of private sector productive facilities in various sectors of the Nigerian economy. Sectors targeted by Access Bank include infrastructures, agribusiness, manufacturing, telecommunications, as well as oil and gas.

The grant of 6 million Units of Account (9 million US dollars) will be used to enhance safe blood transfusion and improve the quality of preventive and curative medication against communicable diseases (HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and hepatitis).

The project will comprise the establishment of an operational blood transfusion network; improvement of access to services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases. It also includes national capacity building for epidemiological surveillance.

Approves US$ 100 Million Line of Credit to Zenith Bank

Tunis, 13 December 2006 - The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved on Wednesday in Tunis, under its private sector window, a second Line of Credit (LOC) of US$ 100 million to Zenith Bank of Nigeria.