'$600 Million Scale' Korea-Africa Energy Investment Framework Agreement Signed

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the Export-Import Bank of Korea announced on the 22nd that they have signed the 'Korea-Africa Energy Investment Framework (KAEIF)' with a total limit of 600 million USD over the next five years.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated that Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Akinwumi Adesina, President of AfDB, and Visit Kyoo, President of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, completed the non-face-to-face cross-signing of KAEIF on the same day. KAEIF is an inter-institutional agreement that stipulates the support methods and conditions for cooperative financing projects in the African energy sector and takes effect upon signing.

The African region has an electricity access rate of 46.7% (as of 2019), making industrialization transitions difficult. The global average electricity access rate is 90.1%. Accordingly, AfDB prioritizes 'electricity access' and focuses on discovering and supporting energy infrastructure projects. It is expected that the development of related projects and financial demand will steadily increase in the future.

The government stated, "By combining the development project experience of the EDCF and AfDB's regional network, we will actively discover and support promising energy projects to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa." It added, "Through the combined financing of EDCF and EDPF, we plan to expand support for high value-added large-scale energy projects, effectively backing Korean companies' entry into Africa."