BOAD increases its financing for the digital sector
April 18th 2024
The overall amount of financing granted by BOAD to the digital sector increased from 15 billion FCFA in 2022 to 40 billion FCFA in 2023, and is expected to experience strong growth over the coming years, Moustapha Ben-Barka, vice president, announced this week. -president of the institution’s finance and investment division, during his speech at the Cyber Africa Forum 2024 in Abidjan.
“ BOAD has defined a sectoral intervention strategy, driven by its mission, which aims to contribute to the development of a resilient, affordable, secure and inclusive digital sector, promoting sub-regional integration and the establishment of “a common digital market, a lever for growth of the economies of the UEMOA space,” declared the financier, indicating that the digital economy constituted one of the five priority axes of the BOAD’s Djoliba 2021-2025 strategic plan.
It must be said that in terms of supporting the digital sector, BOAD is not at its first attempt. According to data collected by the Ecofin Agency , which covers the period until December 2022, the bank based in Lomé claims to have financed 44 ICT projects for a total envelope of 240.8 billion FCFA, since its creation. These projects range from the development of mobile telephony to the extension of fiber optic networks. 63% of this portfolio was devoted to private sector projects and 37% to projects carried out by the governments of UEMOA member states. Excluding Guinea-Bissau, there is an average of 6 projects funded per country over the period from 1973 to 2023.
However, ICT projects still represent less than 4% of the overall financing granted by BOAD. The bank intends to get back on track. It also announced that it was about to launch a Digital Transformation Fund (FTD). Endowed with nearly 24 billion FCFA, this vehicle should target in its first phase a pipeline of ambitious projects aimed at modernizing digital infrastructure and services in the eight member countries of the union.
The fund will finance “priority non-market projects” in infrastructure and e-services. This will involve supporting States in the preparation of ICT projects and financing national projects in the field of ICT, it is indicated. We mention support for the establishment of digital public platforms (single window, single land, etc.), the digitalization of administration (procurement, civil status, e-health, e-taxes, e-customs, etc.), the deployment of optical fiber, DTT and data centers across the countries of the Union.
Furthermore, BOAD is also working in collaboration with the OIF to deploy the D-CLIC project, which intends to improve the digital skills of young people in the French-speaking world.
Source: Agency EcoFin
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