Development finance

The Swedish DFI has offered a working capital loan of up to $15m as part of a wider FMO-led initiative to support Robust International increase its local processing capacity across several African countries.

Swedfund has allocated €40m to the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund, focusing on climate resilient infrastructure and digital connectivity in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Africa currently has an average electrification rate of 50%, leaving some 600 million people without access to reliable power. The projects form part of a wider initiative to halve that number by 2030.

Blended finance is mobilising private investment to meet development aims, but it needs to be part of a wider toolbox of support from national and supra-national bodies, World Economic Forum delegates heard.

The investment will see BII and FMO partner with Swiss-based SUSI Partners to develop a renewable energy platform from scratch.

responsAbility’s Asia Climate Fund aims to target carbon reduction across the continent, looking at areas such as renewable energy, electric mobility and energy efficiency.

Cassava Technologies will use the funds to boost connectivity across the African continent, which has historically suffered from underinvestment of its digital infrastructure.

The transaction is the first debt conversion for nature to focus funding on terrestrial and freshwater conservation rather than on marine environments.

Swedfund and IFU have made commitments of $44m to Sturdee Energy, a South African independent power producer which develops renewable energy projects and related infrastructure across Southern Africa.

GSG Impact has submitted a proposal to the UN, backed by more than 50 organisations, to mobilise private capital to the SDGs ahead of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development taking place next year.