The Board of Directors of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) held its 94th ordinary meeting on Tuesday 23 September 2014 in Lomé, under the chairmanship of Mr Christian Adovelande, President, and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Following the adoption of the minutes of its 93rd Board meeting held on 24 June 2014 in Dakar, the Board considered and approved the General Directives for updating the 2014-2018 financial outlook and preparing BOAD’s 2015-2017 programme budget. In addition, the Board approved seven operations involving a total amount of FCFA30.340 billion, bringing the aggregate amount of medium-term and long-term financing to FCFA3,140.3 billion for 721 projects. A new short-term loan of FCFA27 billion brought the cumulative amount of short-term financing to FCFA174.1 billion.
Loan proposals approved relate to the following operations:
• Partial funding of a support project to aid Compagnie nationale d’assurance agricole du Sénégal (national agriculture insurance provider in Senegal) with the implementation of a crop insurance product for cotton and corn crops (PA-CNAAS). The overarching aim of the project is to reduce the vulnerability of cotton and corn producers by offering them an insurance product that covers several phases of production. This should help grant input credit of FCFA22 billion to a total of 40,000 producers. Loan amount: FCFA1.09 billion.
• Partial funding of a support project to aid Assurance mutuelle agricole du Bénin (agriculture insurance provider in Benin) with the implementation of a crop insurance product for cotton and rice crops (PA-AMAB). This project will help provide crop insurance policies for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 cotton harvests to all 350,000 cotton producers and 1,000 rice producers located in Benin. Loan amount: FCFA1.089 billion.
These projects represent BOAD’s first two interventions as part of the implementation of its Crop Insurance Programme that it initiated following the food crisis that occurred in the WAEMU region in 2008. In view of the fact that climatic risks have a significant impact on agricultural development, the Bank financed a feasibility study from 2010 to 2012 that looked into setting up a crop insurance system in the countries of the WAEMU.
This study concluded that a crop insurance scheme would be feasible in this area, particularly in Benin and Senegal, which both have dedicated insurance data and insurance companies specialising in crop insurance. BOAD will help the other six WAEMU states increase the reliability of agricultural and meteorological data and establish the institutional framework that is essential for the implementation of crop insurance.
• Partial funding of the road-paving and sewerage project in the towns of Abomey-Calavi (phase 2), Athiémé, Avrankou, Azovè, Kérou, Malanville and Zogbodomey, and the bridge construction project on the Djonou lagoon crossing between Cocotomey and Womey (Benin). As well as improving traffic flow, the project will also help improve the urban environment by reducing by 50% the prevalence rate of diseases related to unsanitary conditions. Loan amount: FCFA20 billion.
• Partial funding of the project to expand the capacity of the cocoa bean processing unit of Ivory Cocoa Products (ICP) SA in San Pedro (Côte d’Ivoire). The aim of this project is to increase the nominal processing capacity of ICP SA’s industrial unit from 24,000 to 48,600 tons of cocoa beans per annum, which equates to 38,880 tons of finished product per annum. Loan amount: FCFA2 billion.
• Short-term facility to the Government of Benin for the partial funding of the 2014-2015 cotton harvest. This operation is intended to support Benin in its efforts to produce 367,340 tons of cotton, which equates to a 20% increase on the previous harvest. This will mark BOAD’s third intervention in a row in support of cotton harvests in Benin. Loan amount: FCFA27 billion.
The Board of Directors also approved the acquisition of shareholdings in the following entities:
• La Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique, PROPARCO (company for the support and financing of economic cooperation). In the context of a share capital increase at PROPARCO, BOAD will acquire an additional shareholding of FCFA1.161 billion (€1,770,613.2).
• Compagnie aérienne régionale, ASKY (regional airline company). Within the context of increasing the company’s share capital to FCFA25 billion, BOAD will increase its shareholding by FCFA3 billion.
• Air Côte d’Ivoire (national airline of Côte d’Ivoire). Within the context of Air Côte d’Ivoire increasing its share capital from FCFA25 billion to FCFA65 billion, BOAD will acquire a shareholding of FCFA2 billion.
Furthermore, the Board of Directors delivered a favourable opinion on BOAD’s draft 2015-2019 strategic plan, the proposal of measures to boost BOAD’s refinancing facilities and the statement of recovery of BOAD loans as of 31 August 2014.
Lastly, the Board took notice of the following items: Allocation of annual ordinary funding for the 2013 financial year; report on BOAD bond loan issue for 2014-2017; use of BOAD resources as of 31 July 2014; report on the restructuring of Groupe de la Banque Régionale de Solidarité, BRS (Regional Solidarity Bank Group); report of the Credit Committee of the Board of Directors following on-site consultation of its members on the proposal to renew the short-term financing granted to the company AGROPHYTEX in Senegal for the import of agricultural inputs; minutes of the ordinary meeting of the WAMU Council of Ministers held on 28 June 2014 in Dakar.
The members of the Board thanked the Togolese authorities for the warm and fraternal welcome extended to them, as well as for the material and organisational arrangements that facilitated the holding of their meetings under congenial conditions.
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of the West African Development Bank (BOAD).
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