Financial tools

Financial tools

In addition to the financial tools that have been developed by AFD and can be used in the Mediterranean, the Group has extended its range and can now offer new tools specially designed for the region:

Investment Facility to Support the Economic Development of the Mediterranean (FISEM)

AFD has created the Investment Facility to Support the Economic Development of the Mediterranean (FISEM) in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean. This €250m equity investment instrument will help shore up the financial structure of businesses, particularly SMEs. A Strategic Committee has been appointed to orient its financial transactions.

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Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF)

The European Union has created a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument in the framework of the so-called “neighbourhood” policy, which covers both Mediterranean countries (excluding Turkey and the Balkans) and Eastern European countries. This instrument pools the budget financial resources earmarked for cooperation between the EU and these countries. Under this policy, the European Commission has proposed the creation of an instrument – the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) – which aims to scale up the available volume of resources for cooperation between the EU and its neighbours. The creation of this Facility was approved by the European Union Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) on 19th March 2008 and a common procedure has been implemented for the appraisal of projects by its partners.

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Guarantee fund: ARIZ Mediterranean

With this tool for sharing counterpart risks with banks in the region, AFD is completing the series of countercyclical actions launched in June 2009 with the Investment Facility to Support the Economic Development of the Mediterranean (FISEM). Thanks to this tool, AFD is also meeting the request made by certain French banking networks that use ARIZ in Sub-Saharan Africa to extend this mechanism to their subsidiaries in the Mediterranean working on programs to support SME investments (mesofinance, energy efficiency and renewable energies, upgrading, SER).

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Seed Capital, Development and Orientation Fund (FARO)

This fund will contribute to financing feasibility studies for innovative projects identified in partnership with OSEO and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Group. It also appeared necessary, as part of Union for the Mediterranean actions to support SMEs, to create a tool to support initiators of innovative small-scale projects, especially intended for diasporas, bi-national operators and, more generally, all those that share the will to serve the common interests of both sides of the Mediterranean.

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