Trade and Development Bank boosts growth and infrastructure development in Eastern and Southern African region

By Wallace Mawire [caption id="attachment_37049" align="alignleft" width="300"] Admassu Tadesse, President and Chief Executive Officer of TDB (Photo: defimedia)[/caption] The rebranded Trade and Development bank (TDB), formerly the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, commonly known as PTA bank has reportedly made substantial contributions to the rising economic growth and infrastructure development in the eastern and southern African region. Admassu Tadesse, President and Chief Executive of TDB says the bank’s development contributions are in line with regional and international development strategies, especially those aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) and Africa’s vision 2063. Tadesse said that the bank has funded some of the several landmark renewable energy projects such as Turkana wind power in Kenya, Hydromax mini-hydro in Uganda, industrial projects such as cement and steel plants in the DRC, Djibouti, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. He also said that other landmark projects funded by the bank include the Burundi fibre-optic backbone project and Kilwa power project in Tanzania. “We will continue scaling up with continued attention to sustainability and good corporate governance,”Tadesse added. The regional multilateral development finance institution has also announced that it will continue to increase financing for priority sectors such as trade, infrastructure, manufacturing, industry and agribusiness across the 20 member states it operates in, over the next five years. The bank has also financed the recently commissioned $85 million new Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Harare cement plant, a world class, state of the art facility that boasts of the latest technology in the construction industry. Other initiatives supported by the bank include agribusiness projects throughout eastern and southern Africa, notably in Malawi and Sudan. The bank also provided important asset finance facilities to the air transport sector in the region, with Rwanda air, Kenya and Ethiopian airways benefitting. The PTA bank now TDB is an African regional development financial institution established in 1985. Its mandate is to finance and foster trade, socio-economic development and regional economic integration across member states. It is also an institution of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The bank’s membership comprises of 19 member states which include Burundi, Comoros, the DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.