Cassa Depositi e Prestiti e African development bank they will invest up to 400 million euros over the next five years to support the growth of African private sector through the Growth and resilience platform for Africa (Graf). “Thanks to the new form of collaboration, CDP and the African Development Bank will support the growth of the African continent through targeted initiatives on strategic projects, encouraging the exchange of information between actors in the area and facilitating joint investment opportunities,” explains CDP in a note , underlining that the new platform aims to accelerate the implementation of new initiatives driven by the private sector in Africa, creating a single point of access for investment opportunities.
Up to 200 million per institution
The resources invested, which can reach 200 million euros for each institution, they will be conveyed into the African economic fabric through funds that operate in the area in three main areas: food security, growth of local SMEs and sustainable infrastructure.
“The GRaF platform aims to mobilize a further 350 million euros, to reach a total of 750 million, allowing future investors who join to acquire new knowledge on the African private sector and share investment opportunities in funds operating on the continent. The platform will make it possible to produce significant indirect impacts, generating benefits for the real economy in terms of job creation and improvement of essential products and services in Africa,” states Cdp.
The initiative, presented by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the recent G7 summit in Borgo Egnazia, is part of the Mattei plan for Africa.
CEO Scannapieco: “Up to 750 million for Africa”
“Through the renewed collaboration with the African Development Bank, we are today opening an important new channel through which we aim to mobilize up to 750 million for projects and initiatives that directly benefit Africa with a view to common growth as envisaged in the commitment undertaken by our Government through the Mattei Plan. The long-term development of our country is intrinsically linked to the growth of the African continent and in particular of its private sector: we are confident that this new collaboration will be able to incentivize significant opportunities also for our companies in strategic sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure and manufacturing, in which our country has realities of excellence", declared the CEO and general director of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Dario Scannapieco.
“We are proud of our partnership with the Italian Government on the Mattei Plan, presented by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The agreement between the African Development Bank and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti will contribute to achieving the objectives of the Mattei Plan in Africa by increasing support for Small and Medium Enterprises, in order to increase economic opportunities for women and young people, create jobs of work and impact the factors underlying migration. We will continue to leverage this strategic collaboration to increase investment in Funds in Africa and provide greater confidence to African and global institutional investors so that they can further enhance their ability to deploy resources,” underlined the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi A. Adesina.
