Gabon has become a member of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), after signing the Corporation's Instrument of Accession and Acceptance of membership in Libreville.

Régis Immongault, Minister of Economy, Republic of Gabon, said: “I am delighted to be able to formalize Gabon's membership of the Africa Finance Corporation, an organization that is successfully driving growth and development of infrastructure across the continent.”

“The strong track record of the Corporation demonstrates its ability to work with both governments and private sector institutions to deliver innovative financing solutions for projects spanning a large variety of sectors,” he said.

Gabon joins other AFC member countries: Cape Verde, Chad, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra-Leone and The Gambia.

Gabon has an abundance of natural resources, with long-established oil, timber and manganese industries, and one of the world's largest deposits of iron ore.

However limited infrastructure has been constraining the country's recent economic development.

AFC aims to help address Gabon's most immediate infrastructure needs, in the transportation, natural resources and power sectors, among others, to assist the country in meeting its full growth potential and in diversifying its GDP and sources of income.

As with all other member states, Gabon's membership enables AFC to receive preferred creditor status within the country, the benefits of which would reduce AFC's investment risk, enabling the Corporation to provide more competitive financing solutions.

Overall, the Corporation has invested over $2.5bn in projects across 22 African countries and provides funding and project development expertise in a wide range of sectors including power, telecommunications, transport and logistics, natural resources and heavy industries.

Andrew Alli, CEo of AFC, welcomed Gabon to the corporation's membership body: “We at AFC are committed to proactively financing and developing infrastructure where it is most needed. We are excited by the government of Gabon's commitment to development and to supporting infrastructure investments as a means of achieving this objective.”

“Gabon's significant natural resources, abundance of land and growing agricultural industry offers huge potential for sustainable growth and diversification, if the adequate supporting infrastructure is in place. We aim to make a significant contribution to this,” he said.

“By expanding our footprint and welcoming more countries as members of the corporation, AFC can address more of the continent's pressing infrastructure needs and build the foundations for robust economic development across Africa,” he added.