Sopuruchi Onwuka

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa has signed a €40 million line of credit agreement with the Development Bank of Nigeria to expand access to long-term financing for small businesses across Nigeria.

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The agreement was formalized in Washington, D.C., on the sidelines of the IMF World Bank Spring Meetings by BADEA President Abdullah Almusaibeeh and DBN Managing Director Tony Okpanachi.

The facility will be deployed through DBN’s network of participating financial institutions, which on-lend funds to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). This structure allows the bank to reach a wider range of businesses that typically struggle to access affordable, long-term credit from commercial banks.

In Nigeria, many SMEs face high borrowing costs and short loan tenures, limiting their ability to invest in expansion, equipment and job creation. The new funding is expected to ease these constraints by providing more patient capital suited to business growth.

DBN said the credit line would support investments across priority sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, education, information technology, energy and real estate—areas seen as critical to economic diversification and productivity.

A significant portion of the funding is also expected to target women- and youth-led enterprises, in line with DBN’s broader financial inclusion strategy. The bank has increasingly focused on these segments, which are often underserved despite their role in employment generation and innovation.

Speaking at the signing, Almusaibeeh said the partnership reflects BADEA’s commitment to strengthening private sector development in Africa by improving access to finance for smaller businesses.

Okpanachi described the facility as a boost to DBN’s capacity to scale lending and deepen its development impact, particularly in supporting job creation and long-term economic growth.

The agreement adds to BADEA’s growing portfolio of partnerships with African development finance institutions aimed at supporting infrastructure, industrialization and private sector competitiveness across the continent.

Established in 1975, BADEA is a multilateral development finance institution owned by member states of the League of Arab States, with a mandate to support economic development in sub-Saharan Africa.

DBN, on the other hand, operates as a wholesale development finance institution, providing long-term funding, partial credit guarantees and technical assistance to commercial banks and other financial intermediaries. Its model is designed to address structural financing gaps that have historically limited the growth of Nigeria’s SME sector.