Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Germany's international project and export finance bank KfW IPEX-Bank, have signed a US$300 million framework financing agreement.

The facility will be accessible to infrastructure projects in Africa developed by AFC, by providing long-term financing of European equipment and services imported for such projects. The framework financing agreement is designed to support German and European exporters and help address Africa's infrastructure development needs.

Projects financed under the agreement will be covered by guarantees from European Export Credit Agencies (ECAs).

The division for energy and environment in Sub-Sahara Africa of KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW Group) has worked for more than three decades on promoting infrastructure projects in Sub-Sahara Africa. During the past five years, they have successfully arranged or participated in financing of more than 30 infrastructure projects in the region. Their current project portfolio consists of 31 projects with a volume of close to €500 million across 12 countries in Africa.

AFC is the second highest investment grade-rated multilateral financial institution on the African continent, with an A3 (long term) /P2 (short term) foreign currency debt rating by Moody's Investors Service. AFC's current authorized share capital is US$2 billion with shareholders' funds of US$1.24 billion and a 2013 funding programme of US$700 million.

In mid November we reported that AFC was one of the financial institutions that had plans to finance the Lekki port public-private partnership (PPP) project, located at 60 kilometres east of Lagos, Nigeria.