Highlights

Off-grid solar is among the most promising technologies that can help increase access to electricity in rural areas where grid-connected power is scarce. To stimulate the growth of the market, MIGA issued guarantees to cover investments in an innovative company, Bboxx, helping it expand its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Rwanda. Bboxx is a next-generation utility that designs, manufactures, distributes, and finances decentralized solar-powered systems across Africa. The project will increase access to affordable, reliable clean energy; spur local economic activity; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and help create high-quality jobs.

With one of the lowest electrification rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (20 percent, compared with 48 percent for the region overall) and a high level of unmet demand, Burkina Faso is striving to address its energy access challenges and enhance its energy security. The country currently has 357 MW of installed capacity, mostly from aging and expensive heavy fuel oil (HFO) generation, and is using imports from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to serve base demand. MIGA has stepped in to provide guarantees for a project comprising the construction, ownership, operation, and maintenance of a solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generating facility that would add 30 MW of capacity. The project will be part of the country’s first round of solar IPPs and will support the country’s transition to renewable energy while boosting private sector confidence to invest in Burkina Faso.

Hurricane Dorian in 2019, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, exerted dual pressures on the public hospital facilities in The Bahamas, triggering chronic bed shortages, lengthening wait times for patients, and limiting access to appropriate diagnostic tools. In response, MIGA issued guarantees for US$118.56 million to Banco Santander S.A. of Spain for its loans to the Ministry of Finance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Proceeds from the MIGA-guaranteed loan will support (a) the Public Hospitals Authority’s modernization of the public health system to respond to COVID-19 and build post-pandemic resilience; and (b) MSMEs hit hard by the pandemic.

MIGA guarantees are providing capital relief to the ProCredit Group, a key SME-focused lending institution in Eastern Europe. The guarantees help the bank to increase its lending capacity at a time of economic stress and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic into its subsidiaries in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. This lending is directed at SMEs, which are key drivers of growth and jobs in the region. In addition, 100 percent of the freed-up capital is allocated by the subsidiaries toward climate finance lending, a core competency of ProCredit.

The tourism and hospitality sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa have faced significant disruption from the global COVID-19 pandemic, leading to considerable unemployment, business closures, and the suppression of local economic growth. In June 2021, MIGA signed a Master Contract of Guarantee with Kasada Hospitality Fund LP (Kasada) for its existing and future equity, quasi-equity, and/or shareholder loans for brownfield and Greenfield hotel projects in up to 10 in Sub-Saharan African countries: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda. The project is expected to create 13,000 to 27,000 direct jobs, with spillover into indirect and induced job creation in the tourism supply chain. As well, it will help direct capital to a sector that has been severely affected by the pandemic.