LAGOS, Nigeria, November 15, 2023 -- Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) (www.AfricaFC.org), the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, announces Burundi and São Tomé & Príncipe as its newest member countries, expanding its community of sovereigns to 42 African nations.

Despite significant macroeconomic headwinds, AFC has doubled its membership in the last five years, strengthening its mandate to resolve regional challenges and catalyze private sector-led infrastructure development across Africa.

The onboarding of Burundi expands AFC’s footprint in East Africa following the recent memberships by South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia and legacy memberships by Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Djibouti, and Eritrea. The Corporation is now applying its experience in infrastructure development and financing to support Burundi’s National Development Plan to modernize and diversify the land-locked economy, including growth-enhancing sectors such as mining, transportation, logistics, and energy.

Burundi’s Minister of Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning, Hon. Audace Niyonzima, said, “I am delighted that Burundi has joined the membership of AFC. This decision is not only a milestone for our country but also an opportunity for us to foster sustainable economic growth and develop our infrastructure leveraging AFC’s vast network and reach across the continent.”

The addition of São Tomé and Príncipe further diversifies AFC’s reach in Portuguese-speaking Lusophone countries. The West African twin island joins AFC’s existing Lusophone members, including Angola, Guinea Bissau, and Cape Verde. The Corporation plans to support the country’s target of generating half of all renewable electricity by 2030. AFC also intends to support the nation’s quest to develop sustainable and resilient transport infrastructure to withstand climate change impacts. São Tomé and Príncipe is particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, higher sea levels, and extreme weather due to its geographical location and isolation, according to the World Food Programme.

In both regions, AFC has led extensive developments, delivering on transformative projects such as the 26MW Cabeolica Wind Farm in Cape Verde, the recently inaugurated 60MW Red Sea Power Wind Farm in Djibouti, the country’s first renewable energy Independent Power Project, and the Segilola Gold mine in Osun State which is Nigeria’s first commercial-scale gold mine.  

“We welcome São Tomé and Príncipe, and Burundi into the AFC community and look forward to furthering our close collaboration with both nations’ governments to help advance their economic development and industrialization,” said Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC. “I am confident that working together, we will quickly identify projects that will prove transformative in driving import substitution, value addition, job creation, and beneficiation of the abundant natural wealth of both nations.”