AfDB Group approves $125m investment in African Trade, Investment Development Insurance to expand risk insurance capacity in Africa

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved, on 22 May, a $125 million equity investment in the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) to help meet rising demand for trade and investment risk mitigation products in Africa.

This investment is intended to strengthen ATIDI’s capital base and expand its political risk and credit insurance products designed to support foreign direct investment and intra-African trade.

ATIDI, legally known as the African Trade Insurance Agency, offers trade, credit and political investment insurance to businesses and investors operating across its African member states. Its products are designed to help mitigate commercial and political risks associated with trade and investment on the continent.

“The proposed investment is in line with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033), as it encourages private-sector solutions and increases financing for Africa,” said Solomon Quaynor, African Development Bank Group Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialisation.

“It is also fully in line with the policy on non-sovereign operations, which aims to support the financing of private-sector investments and projects in regional member countries — and also in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area in its aim to increase regional trade across the continent.”

ATIDI’s CEO, Manuel Moses, said: “This equity investment is yet another milestone in the exemplary partnership between ATIDI and the African Development Bank Group.

The Bank became a member of ATIDI in 2013 and, since then, our institutions have successfully collaborated to grow ATIDI’s geographic footprint and outreach to African governments, de-risk part of the Bank’s portfolio and enable flagship developmental projects across the continent.

We are happy to further strengthen our bond with the AfDB to support Africa’s New Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD) and catalyse trade and investment at the scale where it sustainably drives the continent’s economic emergence. The best is still to come.”