GTFP AWASH BANK (IFC-43235)

Countries
  • Ethiopia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Sep 11, 2024
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
AWASH INTERNATIONAL BANK S.C.
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 20.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 14, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Sep 30, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the proposed project is an unfunded trade finance facility under IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP or the GTFP Facility) of up to US$20 million, booked under the Africa Trade and Supply Chain Recovery Initiative (ATRI), benefiting from a 25 percent pooled first loss guarantee. The purpose of the proposed IFC trade line is to support Awash Bank’s (AB) trade program. GTFP’s investment in the form of a trade line will confirm banks’ partial or full guarantees [and other trade instruments] covering payment risk on banks in emerging markets in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for their trade-related transactions.                                                  

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

This Project will support short-term trade finance activities. The E&S risks and impacts associated with these activities are considered low and the project has therefore been classified as a category FI-3 project in accordance with IFC’s Sustainability Policy. The Project will not support any activities with significant E&S concerns such as: (a) involuntary resettlement; (b) risk of adverse impacts on Indigenous Peoples; (c) significant risks to or impacts on the environment, community health and safety, biodiversity, cultural heritage; or (d) significant occupational health and safety risks. It will also not support any activities related to upstream oil & gas production and activities related to coal such as coal mining, coal transportation, coal-fired power plants, or infrastructure services exclusively dedicated to support any of these activities. The project will not support palm oil that is not RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO).

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

GTFP limit of up to US$20 million on IFC’s own account to AB for transactions with tenor of up to 360 days. The facility will be booked under the ATRI (Board approved in June 2022) umbrella and will hence benefit from a 25 percent Pooled First Loss Guarantee (“PFLG”) from IDA.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Awash Bank was established in 1994 with 486 founding shareholders and began operations in 1995. Today, it is the largest private sector bank in terms of assets, loans, and deposits with nearly 12 million customers. The bank counts more than 10.5 k shareholders of which two shareholders above 2% ownership. Largest shareholder being Awash Insurance S.C. (5%), and Asrat Gelete Dugda (2.2%).


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Awash Bank S.C
Hailu Woldegebriel
Executive Assistant to the CEO
+251115570129
hailuw@awashbank.com
Awash Towers, Ras Abebe Aregay St. | Addis Ababa
www.awashbank.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works