The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $28 million in fresh financing for Benin to expand private sector growth and improve the business environment, the AfDB announced. The funds will support the third phase of the Economic Governance and Private Sector Development Support Programme (PAGE-DSP), building on two earlier phases successfully rolled out in 2023 and 2024.
“This additional funding wraps up the strong delivery of the first two phases by the Government of Benin,” said Robert Masumbuko, the Bank’s Country Manager in Benin. The new support aims to boost private investment, strengthen special economic zones, grow the agro-industrial sector, and improve resilience to climate shocks.
The program targets clear results by 2025: raising private investment to 35.5 percent of GDP (from 29.9 percent in 2022), increasing investment in the Glo-Djigbé Special Economic Zone to about $40.5 million (from $19.3 million in 2021), and lifting the share of agri-food industries in GDP to 7.7 percent (from 6.1 percent in 2022). “This program builds on the achievements of the first two phases, which totaled roughly $100 million,” said Ammar Kessab, Senior Programme Manager at the Bank.
Key steps under the new phase include adopting a decree to set up the National Competition Authority, which will oversee fair competition and enforce national policy. Another measure will establish a Directorate for the Promotion of E-commerce to guide the rollout of Benin’s National E-commerce Strategy (2025–2029).
The program also calls for updating the gender assessment in agriculture to fit with the country’s new “gender-responsive budgeting” approach—a requirement now applied across all government ministries. The update will help the state better target support for women in the sector and track progress more effectively.
