The African Development Bank says it will lend Cabo Verde €20 million (US$23.29 million) for the first phase of a private sector competitiveness and local economic development programme.

A written statement issued by the multilateral lending institution says the programme is meant to spur the private sector and local entities to contribute more to economic growth and employment by exploiting comparative advantage on each of the islands in the archipelago.

“The government has invested heavily in the country’s infrastructure in recent years, and the challenge now is to enable the private sector to utilise them for growth, job creation and poverty reduction,” the bank says.

In April the African Development Bank was backing 11 projects in Cabo Verde with a total of US$114 million.

The projects were in the fields of information technology, transport and governance, among others, the bank says.