Ecowas Bank For Investment and Development

EBID is the ECOWAS regional an international finance institution established by Article 21 of the Revised ECOWAS Treaty as amended by the Additional Act A/SA.9/01/07 of 19 January 2007. It has two windows, one for the promotion of the private sector and the other for the development of the public sector. Its main objective is to contribute towards the economic development of West Africa through the financing of ECOWAS and NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) projects and programs, notable among which are programs relating to transport, energy, the environment and natural resources. The initial authorized capital of EBID is seven hundred and fifty million US dollars (US$750,000,000.)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which was created on 28 May 1975 in order to promote co-operation and integration of West African countries currently comprises fifteen (15) Member States, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The Treaty establishing ECOWAS also instituted the ECOWAS Fund for Co­operation, Compensation and Development (ECOWAS Fund) as a financial instrument of the Community. It became operational in 1979.

In order to enhance the financial resources of the Fund through the opening of its capital to non-regional partners, the Authority of Heads of State and Government at its twenty-second session held on 9 and 10 December 1999 decided to transform ECOWAS Fund into a regional holding company called ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) with two specialised subsidiaries, ECOWAS Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and ECOWAS Regional Investment Bank (ERIB). The EBID Group became operational in 2003.

In order to ensure that the EBID Group's activities are carried out under a unified command structure so as to streamline overhead costs, the Authority of Heads of State and Government, decided to reorganize the Bank back into a single structure on 14 June 2006.

The fundamental aim of these successive institutional and strategic reforms is to enable EBID achieve its objectives and properly accomplish the mission assigned by the ECOWAS authorities.For more information