The Republic of Equatorial Guinea has officially joined the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as its 47th member state, strengthening the multilateral lender’s presence in Central Africa and providing the resource-rich nation access to financing tools for infrastructure development. The announcement was made on December 10, 2025 from Malabo, closely following the Central African Republic’s recent accession to the institution.
The membership aligns directly with Equatorial Guinea’s Horizon 2035 strategy, a long-term development vision focused on industrialization, economic diversification beyond hydrocarbons, and expansion of transport, logistics, energy and digital infrastructure. The strategy prioritizes investments that can accelerate value addition, boost regional integration, enhance human capital, and strengthen resilience against global market volatility.
Ivan Bacale Ebe Molina, Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, described the partnership as an important milestone in the nation’s development journey. He emphasized that AFC’s proven track record, deep expertise, and commitment to African-led development make it an ideal partner for delivering bankable projects that support long-term growth.
Samaila Zubairu, President and Chief Executive Officer of AFC, welcomed Equatorial Guinea’s accession. He stated the country has set a bold and forward-looking agenda to drive economic diversification, enhance resilience, and build world-class infrastructure. AFC stands ready to deploy its unique approach to project development, de-risking and financing to catalyze transformational projects, working closely with government and private sector partners.
As a member state, Equatorial Guinea gains access to AFC’s full suite of products including project preparation support, equity investments, debt financing, and risk mitigation instruments. These tools are designed to mobilize financing into bankable, transformational projects across key sectors including renewable energy, logistics and transport corridors, and natural resources beneficiation.
The country now joins other Central African nations such as Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe in partnering with AFC to accelerate sustainable growth through infrastructure development.
Equatorial Guinea’s membership enhances AFC’s ability to mobilize global capital for strategic sectors across Central Africa, strengthening the region’s integration into global trade routes and value chains. The Corporation will work alongside public and private sector stakeholders to unlock opportunities in sectors considered vital for growth, including energy, transport, water, telecommunications and local industry.
The partnership is expected to accelerate investment across Central Africa, where many projects face delays due to funding shortages, weak technical preparation and complex regulatory environments.
The accession caps a remarkable year for AFC in which three new countries joined the institution, expanding membership to 47 African nations and significantly deepening its continental footprint. This momentum underscores AFC’s role as Africa’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, accelerating industrialization and strengthening regional value chains.
AFC was established in 2007 to serve as catalyst for pragmatic infrastructure and industrial investments across Africa. The Corporation’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development, and risk capital to address the continent’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.
Since its inception, AFC has invested over $17 billion across 36 African countries, supporting infrastructure projects in power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport and telecommunications. The institution focuses investment across five key sectors that provide essential services for economic development and regional integration.
The Corporation maintains strong presence in global capital markets. In early December 2025, AFC raised a record $524 million equivalent dual-currency Samurai term loan facility, marking its largest such transaction to date and reinforcing rising investor confidence in its credit fundamentals. The three-year syndicated facility, comprising $505 million and JPY 3 billion, was significantly oversubscribed following strong demand from Japanese lenders.
AFC maintains strong presence in Asian capital markets, where it has raised over $1.3 billion in the past decade across Chinese, Indian and Korean loan facilities. The institution received an A+ Stable long-term issuer credit rating from the Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) earlier this year.
Beyond deploying its own balance sheet, AFC supports sovereign and corporate issuers in accessing capital markets. In 2024, it served as Joint Lead Manager for Ecobank’s $400 million Eurobond, the first by a Sub-Saharan bank since 2021. The Corporation also supported Egypt’s second Samurai bond issuance in November 2023, a private placement offering worth JPY 75 billion, acting as re-guarantor.
AFC launched the Africa Saving for Growth Programme at the 2025 UN General Assembly under the Global Africa Business Initiative, which aims to mobilize $1.17 trillion of institutional savings into long-term infrastructure across the continent.
The Corporation is majority owned by private investors, with African financial institutions representing the bulk of shareholders. Private investors own 62 percent of the institution, while 38 percent is held by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Member states participate through their respective central banks, sovereign wealth funds, state pension funds or similar institutions.
AFC membership reinforces the institution’s mandate to foster African-led solutions to the continent’s infrastructure deficit, described as an indispensable foundation for job creation, industrial competitiveness and long-term prosperity. The model combines the development mandate of a multilateral institution with operational agility to execute complex projects.
For Equatorial Guinea, one of Africa’s most resource-rich nations, the membership enables government to leverage AFC’s technical expertise, project development capacity and robust balance sheet to accelerate delivery of high-impact infrastructure projects. The partnership supports the country’s goal to create sustainable opportunities for its population while diversifying the economy away from hydrocarbon dependence.
Membership also positions Equatorial Guinea within a growing network of African nations committed to infrastructure-led development. The institution’s proven track record in executing large-scale projects across power generation, transport corridors, telecommunications networks and industrial facilities provides templates that can be adapted to national priorities.
The timing of Equatorial Guinea’s accession coincides with broader momentum in African infrastructure investment. Regional integration initiatives, climate finance mechanisms and increased private sector participation are creating new opportunities for transformational projects that support industrialization and trade connectivity across the continent.
