Export Finance Australia (EFA), Australia’s government export finance and development agency, announced on Friday, 1 August, that it had granted a £75 million debt facility to the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EEAIF), a blended finance fund managed by Private Infrastructure Development Group.
The facility will be used to fund green energy and strategic infrastructure projects in South and Southeast Asia, increasing access to capital in a historically underfunded area.
South and Southeast Asia are home to many emerging economies – two of the world’s five fastest-growing major economies in 2024 were in the region – and their expanding population and industry is leading to increasing demands for energy.
Since this region is considered extremely high risk for climate change and related extreme weather events, focus is turning to clean energy projects and climate-resilient infrastructure; however, spending on green energy in the region sits at just 2% of the global total, in large part due to insufficient investment.
EFA’s investment will enable EEAIF to increase its exposure to solar energy, digital communications, and sustainable transport projects, expanding access to capital in growing sectors.
“Our investment in EAAIF enables us to support a diverse pipeline of renewable energy and infrastructure projects (…) and help close the infrastructure financing gap in the region,” said John Hopkins, Managing Director and CEO of EFA.
The partnership also forms part of a growing collaboration between Australia and Southeast Asia. The two countries and trading partners have been steadily increasing collaboration in recent years, for example, through the £1.5 billion EFA-managed Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility announced by the Australian government last year.
