The Republic of Benin has entered into a financing agreement for a total amount of 127M € (83 billion CFA Francs) with a leading international bank. This loan benefits from a partial guarantee from the World Bank and its funds will be entirely devoted to the financing of the Insurance for the Reinforcement of Human Capital (‘ARCH’) project. This commercial bank therefore joins the many international partners who have already made their contribution to the ARCH project: the World Bank, present through its guarantee in this operation, but also through direct financial participation; the Islamic Development Bank, the French Development Agency and many others.

“This is a decisive moment for a key government policy, and the promise of major social advances from 2019. This agreement makes it possible to finance a significant part of the ARCH project, on all pillars: health insurance, training, micro-credit, retirement ”declared the Minister of Economy and Finance Romuald Wadagni. “We are further demonstrating that Benin is capable of attracting leading foreign investors, also on priority social projects”.

The € 127 million loan is partially guaranteed by the World Bank, up to 40% of the principal. It bears an interest margin of less than 3.5% for a maturity of 12 years. This is the second time that Benin has resorted to a partial guarantee from the World Bank: after the debt reprofiling operation carried out in 2018, Benin is still demonstrating its ability to find the most favorable terms by relying on on innovative instruments offered by international financial institutions.

This operation confirms the growing interest of foreign investors in Benin. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Romuald Wadagni, welcomes this dynamic and ensures that he is working on further successes in this direction.