The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved €25.5mn-worth of financing for Générale de Banque de Mauritanie, aiding the lender’s offerings to large corporates, SMEs and women-led businesses in Mauritania.
The package consists of a €15mn dedicated trade finance line of credit, a €5mn trade finance guarantee and €500,000 offered as a grant under AfDB’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa programme.
The bank is also providing US$5mn in co-financing with the Africa Growing Together Fund, which is a US$2bn facility sponsored by the People’s Bank of China and administered by AfDB.
AfDB says the funds will be used to facilitate the import of equipment in priority sectors, including renewable energy, fishing, infrastructure, agriculture and telecommunications, and to enable the import of essential goods necessary to meet immediate domestic needs.
The primary beneficiaries of the funds will be local large businesses and SMEs, “including those owned or led by women”, the bank says.
Ahmed Attout, director of the financial sector development department at AfDB, says the trade finance guarantee will allow the bank to provide up to 100% coverage to confirming banks, enabling them to confirm trade finance documents, including letters of credit, issued by Générale de Banque de Mauritanie.
This is the second such partnership between the two institutions, Attout says.
“This initiative goes beyond financial progress – it is a real lever for inclusive growth,” says Leila Boumatou, chair of Générale de Banque de Mauritanie.
“It empowers our entrepreneurs, particularly women, to turn local ambitions into tangible outcomes. The facility will allow us to bridge a structural financing gap and translate financial instruments into real impact – supporting women-led SMEs, fostering industrial innovation, and helping build a more resilient Mauritanian economy.”
Malinne Blomberg, AfDB’s deputy director general for North Africa, adds that the facility aligns with the bank’s objective of scaling up direct support to the private sector in Mauritania, and says it will create and sustain thousands of jobs.
Générale de Banque de Mauritanie is systematic financial institution in Mauritania, dedicated solely to financing SMEs and companies in “key economic sectors”, according to AfDB’s website.
The bank has a €209mn total balance sheet, and serves over 1,300 clients. It is also the only bank in Mauritania led by a woman.
In late May, AfDB announced members had elected Sidi Ould Tah, Mauritania’s former finance minister and a veteran of development finance in Africa and around the world, as its president, with his term beginning in September.
