The IFC has been powering up its presence this week with a number of deals in the energy sector.

It has provided US$69mn to the Jordan wind project company (JWPC) to build a 117MW plant in Jordan.

The IFC acted as lead arranger while the EIB, EKF, FMO, Europe Arab Bank and the OPEC Fund for International Development co-financed the project, between them providing an additional US$152mn, bringing the total up to US$221mn.

JWPC is owned by infrastructure investment fund InfraMed, Masdar of Abu Dhabi and EP Global Energy and is constructing Jordan’s first privately-owned renewable energy facility.

“With fossil fuels becoming increasingly expensive, and the spectre of climate change looming, it is important for countries like Jordan to harness renewable energy,” comments Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC’s Director for Mena.

In Guinea this week, the IFC has signed an advisory agreement with the government to structure and implement a public private partnership for the national power distribution company, Electricité de Guinée.

Similarly, the IFC has signed an MoU with Korea electric power corporation (Kepco) to find ways to improve infrastructure and increase power supply in developing countries.

Under the agreement, IFC and Kepco will expand their collaboration into areas such as conventional and renewable power generation, power transmission and power distribution.

“We see vast opportunities and strong growth in the power sector of emerging countries,” said Kepco’s vice-president and chief global business officer, Kyong-Goo Hur.

Outside of energy, it this week agreed to provide a US$2mn trade financing package to Kyrgyz Investment and Credit bank (KIC) in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The trade financing, which is being provided under the IFC’s global trade finance programme, is part a US$12mn overall loan to KIC. The money has been earmarked for SMEs.

“KIC is focused on increasing lending to SMEs and IFC’s loan will help us further expand our support to these businesses,” comments Kwang-Young Choi, CEO of KIC.