-The International Financial Cooperation is an arm of the World Bank and it’s dedicated to providing loans to the developing world. To tell us more, I’m joined by Thierry Tanoah. He is vice president for Africa, Latin America and Western Europe. Thank you so much for joining us. So first of all, what do you make of the Wal-Mart deal? It’s-- it’s an interesting one, isn't it？ This is a name of a joint venture.
-Yeah, it is an important one. And I think it shows their interest that countries start to have in sub-Saharan Africa and the potential of investment there. So, so it’s a great news and hopefully, would be triggered by others in the years to come, in the months to come.
-What do you say to western, for example, business leaders when they are considering investing in Africa and are apprehensive about it?
-Well, if in today’s world, if you look at the crisis---we’ve discussed this, I think the crisis has shown that sub-Saharan Africa is not such an unsafe place to invest. On the contrary, actually, the resilience of the continent toward the crisis over the, you know, the past two years, has shown that this is a continent in which a lot of profit in private sector would be more than welcome. And so, and today, the risk appetite for Africa should grow.I think the main issue that we are facing is that the continent is not that well-known. And this is part of the role of IFC’s to bring foreign investment on the continent.
-And infrastructure is a problem, but that’s actually an opportunity as well, isn’t it?
-Exactly. I think, you know, it is today an impediment for the growth of the continent, but a huge volume of investment needed in order to bring the infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa to a level which would bring Africa as a market, actually for developed countries, so there’s, again, another potential benefit here.
-And it’s a sad thing to say, but people often talk about corruption when dealing with Africa and they are concerned that it’s not as transparent as it should be, all these business deals. I guess that’s where you come in, isn’t it? You advise, you help finance deals, and therefore make it easy for western companies to sell to their shareholders.
-Yes. And I think the importance also for us, is to demonstrate that, you know, Africais a good place to do business. So IFC has grown over the past five years from a $140m of investment to $2.4bn last year. And we added $1.1bn inmobilizations,so pumping into sub-Saharan Africa $3.5bn. We’ve been able to do this because with our local presence and good selection of sponsors and countries in which we are investing, we’ve made, you know, good return. The notions of corruption on the continent, while here, is a reality, I think you are seeing a lot of good examples where it is possible to do good business in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, I think, I’m encouraging not only the private sectors, but also, you know, leaders in sub-Saharan Africa to get their countries and the continent better known because that is what is going to make a difference.
-OK, Thierry Tanoh. Thank you very much indeed for joining us on the program.
-Thank you.
