Yemisi Izuora
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has announced plans to open offices in four more sub-Saharan African countries following the recent opening of its first office in the region, in Nigeria.
According to remarks by the bank’s Vice President for Banking, Matteo Patrone, reported by CNBC Africa on Monday, July 6, the EBRD intends to establish offices in five sub-Saharan African countries.
Following the opening of its Nigerian office, the next offices are expected to open in Kenya, Benin, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
Patrone said the expansion reflects a broader strategic shift, as the institution seeks to apply in sub-Saharan Africa the financing model it has already developed in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East. He added that the bank views sub-Saharan Africa as a key region for its future growth.
Established in 1990 to support the transition to market economies in Central and Eastern Europe, the EBRD approved amendments to its statutes in May 2023 to gradually extend its operations to selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Six countries have already been selected to receive its financing: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal.
Nigeria became an EBRD shareholder and an “economy of operation” in 2025, with more than 150 million euros invested to date, in addition to an 85 million euro trade finance facility.
The bank has deployed a team of 16 investment professionals in the country to identify and develop projects. It plans to focus future investments on the private sector, particularly agribusiness, telecommunications, technology and mining.
Benin signed its host country agreement in 2024 after formally joining the EBRD, becoming the first country south of the Sahara to do so.
The institution, which expanded into the southern and eastern Mediterranean in 2012, now has 77 national shareholders, in addition to the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The planned office openings reflect the EBRD’s broader strategy of extending its private-sector investment model into sub-Saharan Africa after decades of operating primarily in Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.