- EIB Global invested €3.1 billion in Africa for 2025, backing impactful projects aligned with national priorities and the EU Global Gateway initiative.
- These new investments aim to boost sustainable development, foster stability and create jobs through win-win partnerships.
- 46% of activity dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group deployed more than €9 billion through EIB Global, its arm for international partnerships and development finance, in 2025. Of this figure, Africa received €3.1 billion – a third of the total volume. The key sectors were support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through credit lines, and investment in venture capital funds, sustainable energy, transport infrastructure, water and health.
The top beneficiary countries in Africa were Morocco, Nigeria and Mauritania, as well as Egypt and Malawi. EIB Global also worked in smaller countries such as The Gambia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Cabo Verde.
Flagship projects in sub-Saharan countries include the development of the blue economy in Mauritania and Cabo Verde. EIB Global also reinforced the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire and backed agriculture value chains in Sierra Leone and Guinea, with targeted support for SMEs, gender equality and youth employment. The Bank improved access to electricity in rural communities throughout several regions of Cameroon, which will benefit more than 1.6 million people.
In Morocco, EIB Global financed secure drinking water production and distribution to support climate-resilient water infrastructure and equitable access to potable water for smaller cities and rural areas. We also supported post-earthquake recovery through a large-scale programme focusing on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of schools, hospitals, roads and essential infrastructure, integrating climate-resilient design, energy efficiency and social standards. In Egypt, the Bank helped to advance the country’s green transition with a €21 million EU grant to decarbonise industry and enhance recycling. It also backed the Obelisk solar photovoltaic energy project – the biggest solar photovoltaic plant and battery storage facility in Africa – and invested in the RMBV North Africa Fund III to boost private sector growth.
In the health sector, EIB Global signed a guarantee agreement with MedAccess to expand access to essential medical supplies across Africa. The agreement is among the first operations under the Human Development Accelerator (HDX), a joint programme between the European Commission, the EIB and the Gates Foundation. The initiative also included support for the production of mRNA vaccines in Rwanda. With BioNTech, we are building on work to support local vaccine manufacturing in Senegal and Ghana. In Angola, EIB Global helped to finance the country’s first national vaccination campaign to immunise over 2 million girls against cervical cancer.
Under the Boost Africa initiative, EIB Global backed the Africa Venture Finance Programme organised at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. In 2025, over 40 Africa-based venture capital fund managers benefited from this programme, promoting investment in Africa with a special focus on innovative companies, young people and female entrepreneurs. More broadly, EIB Global committed more than €350 million to new funds in 2025, including those deployed by Amethis and Ardian to boost businesses and new projects in Africa.
Over the past four years, EIB investments have mobilised €73 billion across Africa.
“In 2025, the EIB stepped up its support for win-win partnerships in Africa based on mutual respect. As the financing arm of the European Union, owned by its 27 member states, we are making a difference where it matters most: in high‑impact projects that people can feel on the ground and that communities across Africa can rely on,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño.
Through its financing and technical expertise, the EIB is a global leader in large-scale projects in water, global health, clean energy, transport and support for the private sector, with a special focus on young people and women.
As a key partner in the EU Global Gateway investment strategy, in 2025, EIB Global reached its €100 billion investment mobilisation goal – well ahead of the 2027 deadline. In 2025, 75% of the Bank’s investments outside the European Union supported Global Gateway projects, mobilising over €20 billion.
Beyond financing projects and technical advice, the EIB also mobilises private investment by providing valuable data that help improve the risk assessment of investment in emerging markets. In this context, the EIB works with the World Bank Group to lead the Global Emerging Markets Risk Database (GEMs) – a powerful alliance of 29 multilateral development banks and development finance institutions pooling 40 years of investment experience in emerging economies. GEMs provides comprehensive credit risk data on recovery and default rates, offering insight into the true potential of emerging markets. It helps ensure that investment decisions are grounded in evidence rather than shaped by bias or outdated assumptions. Together, multilateral development banks are improving the way we work together as a system in Africa.
More information about our activity in 2025; Powering Europe – 2025 activity report
Background information
About the EIB:
The EIB Group
The European Investment Bank (ElB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investment union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructure, the EIB Group crowds in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisation operations.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the EIB Group specialised in providing guarantees and equity to improve access to finance for small and medium size businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilises private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs.
In 2023, the EIF together with six EU Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands) launched the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund of funds to scale-up innovative startups. This initiative has already enabled the creation of 12 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 38 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital).
Photos of the EIB Group’s spokespeople and headquarters, logo files and video B-roll for media use are available here.
EIB Global
EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm devoted to increasing the impact of international win-win partnerships and development finance, and a key partner of Team Europe and the Global Gateway strategy. EIB Global brings the EIB Group closer to people, companies and institutions through its offices across the world.