SADC member states are finalizing preparations for establishment of a special development financing fund designed to start with a 1.2 billion US dollars stock.
The fund will be supervised by
Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in the region which are
currently 37 under the umbrella of SADC Development Finance Resource
Centre (SADC- DFRC).
Chief Executive Officer Stuart Kufeni
told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the seed money for the
SADC Development Fund would come from member states and later the Fund
will scout for more sources in and outside the bloc.
“There are several ways of raising fund
but first our DFIs need rating in order to access regional and
international funds (thus) addressing the finance gap in the region.
“Currently 27 DFIs have started rating
procedure under SADC- DFRC guideline which are similar to international
rating agencies. Soon they will graduate and attain rating status,” said
Mr Kufeni.
The CEO was speaking ahead of a two-day
bi-annual meetings of the SADC DFIs network to be held in Dar es Salaam
starting tomorrow. The meeting is co-hosted by TIB Develop ment Bank,
National Development Corporation (NDC) and Tanzania Agriculture
Development Bank (TADB).
“The structure for the SADC Fund is
taking shape…the challenge is for DFIs to come up with regional
guarantee fund to primarily address political risks,” Mr Kufeni said.
SADC- DFRC is a subsidiary institution
of SADC and is owned by SADCDFI Network which has 37 national DFIs as
members from 14 countries under SADC. The institution is mandated to
undertake capacity building, policy research and advocacy in the
development space.
Out of 37 DFIs members in SADC- DFRC one
each from South Africa, Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and
Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) are full rated.
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