OPEC Fund For International Development First Sustainability-linked Financing To Boost Agriculture In Africa

The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) has signed a US$40 million loan as part of a US$394 million sustainability-linked loan for ETC Group (ETG), one of Africa’s largest agricultural commodity supply chain managers. The financing will enhance ETG’s working capital, strengthen food systems and support the livelihoods of more than 600,000 smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa.

This is the OPEC Fund’s first sustainability-linked loan, a financing tool that ties lending terms to meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets. The loan incentivizes ETG to improve farmer livelihoods, reduce environmental impacts and enhance food security.

OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “Our first sustainability-linked loan demonstrates the OPEC Fund’s dedication to fostering sustainable development through innovative financing. Our strong and longstanding partnership with ETG enables us to address food security, strengthen agricultural value chains and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This partnership also reflects our commitment to embedding sustainability at the core of our private sector operations.”

Established as the Export Trading Company in Kenya in 1967, ETG has grown to become one of the largest independent agricultural commodity supply chain managers in Africa with more than 300 warehouses and 70 processing plants. The OPEC Fund has supported the company’s growth with several loans, with the first US$30 million facility provided in 2009. More than 350,000 smallholder farmers have benefitted and over half the funds have gone to least developed countries.

The US$394 million financing package was co-arranged by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO and the Eastern and Southern African Trade & Development Bank TDB, with additional participation from Germany’s development bank Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft DEG, Canada’s bilateral development finance institution FinDev Canada and the French private sector development finance institution Proparco. The collaboration demonstrates the shared commitment of development finance institutions to fostering a more resilient and sustainable agricultural sector.