Landmark UK taxpayer-guaranteed financing helps UK businesses export to Benin and Togo to support major infrastructure projects
UK firms are set to benefit from landmark new deals worth a combined £174.5 million to finance construction projects in Benin and Togo.
The deals, funded by both Deutsche Bank and MUFG Bank and guaranteed by UK taxpayers via UK Export Finance (UKEF), will be announced by Trade Minister James Duddridge today (19 October) in a speech to the inaugural UK-Francophone West and Central Africa Trade and Investment Forum in London.
The event will bring together senior politicians and business leaders from eight African nations to boost trade and investment opportunities across a continent with an economy worth £2.6 trillion.
The deals come as the government ramps up its support for West and Central Africa trade, reinforcing the UK’s ambition to be Africa’s investment partner of choice.
Minister of State for International Trade, James Duddridge said:
UKEF, the UK’s world-class export credit agency, backed by UK taxpayers, has guaranteed a landmark £106.5 million loan from Deutsche Bank to the Benin Government which will fund the construction of a new Ministerial City in Benin.
The project will transform the country’s government complex and unlock £35 million in export opportunities for UK businesses, who will supply equipment to Benin for the construction work whilst creating local jobs.
Duddridge will also announce £68.6 million of UKEF-guaranteed financing from MUFG Bank to build a vital new road between Benin and Togo. This will accelerate inter-Africa trade, by opening up routes to dynamic markets, and unlock £47 million worth of UK exports to the region.
At the same time, the road will connect over 200,000 people living in Togo’s Central Region with safer and crucial transport links to Benin.
His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, John Humphrey said:
Rose Kayi Mivedor, Togo Government Minister for Investment Promotion, added:
The UK was Europe’s top investor in Africa this year, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s 2022 world investment report.
Today’s new UKEF deals build on £3.2 billion of support for projects across the continent in the past two years, with even more deals expected in the year ahead.
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Notes to Editors
The Benin Projects
The Togo-Benin Road Project
About UK Export Finance
* Necessary qualifier