Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s board has approved a $500 million sustainable bond programme for East Africa, as the pan-African lender seeks to expand local-currency financing for housing and urban development.
The programme is part of the bank’s strategy to deepen its access to African capital markets and raise longer-term funding for affordable housing and related infrastructure, according to information published by Shelter Afrique.
The Nairobi-based development bank said in June that preparations were advanced for an inaugural 60 billion CFA franc sustainable bond programme in West Africa and that its board had approved the establishment of a $500 million East Africa Sustainable Bond Programme.
The bank has previously said it plans to issue bonds in tranches across East African markets, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. It had initially planned the issuance for 2025 but postponed it to 2026 because high interest rates made market conditions unfavorable.
The new programme would give Shelter Afrique greater access to local capital markets while helping reduce foreign-exchange risks associated with borrowing in hard currencies and lending to projects whose revenues are generated in local currencies.
Shelter Afrique has been developing synthetic local-currency financing solutions as part of its treasury and capital-markets strategy, saying the structures would help align borrowers’ revenues with their financing obligations.
The lender’s funding push comes as African countries face a persistent shortage of affordable housing and limited availability of long-term financing for housing and urban infrastructure.
Shelter Afrique, which is owned by 44 African governments alongside the African Development Bank and Africa Reinsurance Corporation, describes itself as a pan-African multilateral development bank focused on housing, urban development and related infrastructure.
The institution reported a comprehensive profit of $2.14 million for 2025, up 20% from $1.79 million a year earlier. Loan disbursements rose 162% to $63 million, while the bank also secured a $50 million funding facility from African Export-Import Bank.
The bond programme would add to Shelter Afrique’s existing efforts to diversify its funding sources. In Nigeria, the institution has a 200 billion naira domestic bond issuance programme, under which it issued 27.18 billion naira of five-year bonds at 13% and 18.82 billion naira of seven-year bonds at 13.25%.
The lender is also preparing the 60 billion CFA franc sustainable bond programme for West Africa, indicating a broader push to tap regional capital markets rather than rely primarily on international or shareholder funding.
Shelter Afrique has said the local-currency approach is intended to strengthen its ability to finance housing projects while limiting currency mismatches for borrowers.
The planned East African programme follows the bank’s transformation into a development bank, a move that has expanded its mandate beyond housing finance and is intended to improve its ability to mobilise capital for urban development across the continent.
Khadija Sharife (South Africa/International)
Most Impactful Work: Her investigations for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and contributions to books like “Tax Us If You Can: Why Africa Should Stand Up for Tax Justice.”
Short Bio: An award-winning investigative journalist and senior editor for Africa at OCCRP, Khadija Sharife specializes in illicit financial flows, political economy, and environmental predation. Her work often uncovers complex international corruption networks.
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