Zain Ghana secures USD90 million loan for expansion

Zain Ghana has secured a USD90 million loan facility with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of a wider USD523 million investment in the country by the group which is a member of the World Bank. In addition, the IFC is looking to mobilise up to USD70 million in the form of a syndicated IFC B loan/parallel loans. Zain hopes the investment will help spur competition in Ghana, thereby increasing penetration levels and helping to extend telecoms services into the rural areas. Zain Ghana is also looking to provide direct and indirect sources of employment which, it says, is critical in a country suffering from high unemployment.

Commenting on the loan Zain Ghana Country Manager Philip Sowah said: ‘Our subscriber base in Ghana already exceeded one million and this investment will enable us to scale up our operations and provide affordable and reliable communications services to a much larger part of the population… IFC has brought in a significant number of regional, long-term commercial investors – a great vote of confidence for this frontier market, particularly in the current economic crisis.’