The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a US$25mn to Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) to build institutional capacity and financing affordable housing in Zambia
The loan is expected to improve access to long-term affordable housing finance to Zambia’s lower-middle and middle-income earners currently with limited opportunities to access financing.
The loan also focuses on consolidating the growth of a strong affordable housing sector within Zambia. It will assist in reducing fiscal pressures on the Zambian government and enable ZNBS to mobilise funding from other sources, including Zambia’s capital markets, according to AfDB.
The bank intervention is in line with the AfDB’s High 5 agenda, building on its existing 2013-2022 Strategy, specifically the 5th agenda that focuses on improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.
“The five focus areas are essential in transforming the lives of the African people and therefore consistent with the United Nations agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said AfDB to the press.
“The bank’s intervention will also have multiplier effects on real estate and related industries and jobs creation in the construction industry. The loan will complement the Zambia government’s efforts to develop a self-sustaining long-term affordable mortgage market in the country,” the bank further added.
The intervention aims to enable ZNBS to expand and deepen Zambia’s housing finance sector and encourage orderly urban development for the provision of basic utilities such as water, sanitation, roads and electricity.
By extending this grant to Zambia, the AfDB complements its existing initiatives in the provision of affordable housing and development of mortgage finance institutions on the continent.
Commenting on the goal of AfDB to improve the economy of the African countries, the bank added, “As one of its priority objectives, the AfDB supports investments that widen and deepen financial markets in Africa and enable the private sector to mobilise and access long term local currency funding from local financial and debt markets.”
