With a continued focus on Africa, the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) has extended the fifth line of credit (LOC) to Sierra Leone. The LOC worth $15 million will be used for the expansion of projects for rehabilitation of existing potable water facilities that will benefit 100,000 residents in four communities. The total value of all the five LOCs now stands at $168 million and covers sectors such as power, agriculture, potable water.
The latest LOC was signed on February 5 between EXIM Bank's General Manager Saroj Khuntia and Sierra Leone's Finance Minister Jacob Jusu Saffa.
Specifically, for Africa, India has a total of 211 Line of Credits (LoCs) amounting to USD 12.85 billion in various infrastructure projects such as power plants, hydroelectricity, power transmission and distribution networks, dams etc. New sectors such as telecommunication, defence and solar have also been included under the Indian government's LoCs to Africa in the past few years.
LoCs has been used to build iconic projects like the Mahatma Gandhi Convention Centre in Niger. The centre hosted the OIC FMs meet last year. New Delhi has also extended LOC under new channels including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).
