Credit Agricole du Maroc (CAM), a large commercial bank in Morocco, will serve as an intermediary in the African Development Bank (AfDB)-invested Green Infrastructure Banks Initiative which aims to unlock low carbon infrastructure financing in North Africa. The initiative is supported by an existing USD2.1 million Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) project preparation grant.
AfDB originally selected the Commercial International Bank (CIB) in Egypt and the Bank of Africa (BOA) in Morocco as financial intermediaries for this initiative but subsequently elected to replace BOA with CAM. The MCDF Governing Committee (GC) approved the change during its meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 17 December 2024.
Under the new terms of the MCDF grant, which was approved by the GC in September 2023, technical assistance will be provided to CAM and CIB to develop green investment frameworks and pipelines of bankable green infrastructure and connectivity projects.
The focus will be on projects in the renewable energy, transport, and telecommunications sectors that can help to achieve domestic and global carbon emission reduction targets.
MCDF-funded technical assistance for CAM and CIB will help expand coverage of the African Green Bank Initiative launched by AfDB and partners at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in 2022. The initiative aims to build African financial institutions’ capacity to structure and fund local green finance facilities, and catalyze climate financing on the continent.
The MCDF grant will fund the services of external experts to support CAM’s and CIB’s preparation of green infrastructure and connectivity projects, creation of credit enhancement vehicles, and mobilization of finance from third parties.
Contact
David Hendrickson
Senior Communications Officer
Mobile: +86 185 0114 6758
david.hendrickson@themcdf.org
