Lilongwe, June 12: Vice President of European Investment Bank responsible for lending operations in sub Saharan Africa (EIB) Pim Van Ballekom on Friday confirmed the bank’s strong engagement to support long term investment in essential infrastructure and backing for private sector expansion in Malawi.
Ballekom made the remarks in Lilongwe during a press conference with the European Ambassador Gerrmann at the EU delegation after signing a new EIB loan totaling nearly MK12 billion for two new investment to improve water supply in Lilongwe.
Ballekom said, “the new loan signed this morning was by far the largest EIB support for water investment in Malawi in over 28 years of engagement in the sector in the country.
“This new engagement represents the first public sector operations in Malawi for more than seven years. I am pleased that the EIB can once again demonstrate support for government backed investment.
He said EIB only provide support once a project has been successfully completed and it has passed strict monitoring checks.
“The new loan agreed with the Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) demonstrates the hard work they have done to successfully implement previous investment programmes,” he said.
Ballekom said, over the last decade the EIB has provided nearly 4 billion Euros of investment across the Southern African Development Community and was confident that in the coming years the bank will strengthen lending activity across a broader range of sectors in the country and the wider region.
The European Investment Bank is the world largest international public bank and owned directly by the 28 member state of the European Union which focuses to support successful projects that are technically feasible and economically viable.
