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New Momentum

Niños, Medellín, Colombia
© Benjamin Petit / AFD

In its meeting of 30 November 2016, France's Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development (CICID) expanded AFD's geographical and sectoral mandate. Meanwhile, the National Assembly has increased its resources. AFD is thus becoming more powerful, more open and more flexible, to better meet the South's challenges.

Greater ressources

In 2015, the international community committed itself to a universal vision of sustainable development, as witnessed by the Addis Ababa program on Financing for Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The French Government has acknowledged this change in paradigm and endowed AFD with the resources to match this vision and these objectives.

  • Greater equity capital, to grant more loans

To enable AFD to increase its loan capacity, the French Government, all the while respecting prudential rules, practically doubled AFD's basic equity capital, raising it to 5.3 billion euros.

  • Greater resources, to make more donations

The Government has undertaken to increase the resources available to AFD. In 2016, it was given a budget allocation of 847 million euros for donations, grants and loan subsidies. AFD can also mobilize 466 million euros in grants, through resources delegated mainly by European institutions.

  • A facility to support countries in crisis situations

Faced with the major challenges of political, security or migratory crises, a facility to mitigate vulnerabilities and respond to crises has been implemented by AFD since 2016. The facility has funds of 100 million euros per year.

Its purpose is to prevent crises by taking upstream action on the vulnerabilities that fuel them: youth unemployment and underemployment, failing educational systems, tensions between refugees and host populations, and pressure on natural resources.

Greater responsabilities

AFD's objectives were reaffirmed in 2016. They include the fight against climate change, Africa, and support for developing countries. The CICID also underlined the importance of AFD's partnership-based and inclusive method, in which it works alongside the private sector, local authorities, and other donors including the European Union.

AFD has moreover been given new responsibilities.