DEG: new business reaches record high of EUR 1.9 billion in 2023
DEG Headquarters in Cologne (Copyright: DEG / Andreas Huppertz)
Financing of EUR 1.9 billion for investments in developing and emerging countries, plus mobilised funds of EUR 613 million
DEG portfolio exceeded EUR 10 billion for the first time
Development impact continues to grow
DEG actively promotes the sustainable transformation of private-sector enterprises in partner countries
DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, continued to forge ahead in 2023 despite a still challenging environment: It committed a new record volume of EUR 1.9 billion for private investments in developing and emerging countries (2022: EUR 1.6 billion). DEG mobilised a further EUR 613 million from other investors, significantly more than in the previous year (2022: EUR 487 million). The DEG portfolio grew to EUR 10.3 billion.
DEG and its subsidiary DEG Impulse also provided a total of EUR 92 million for undertakings with a development impact through its advisory and promotional programmes, mostly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Via Business Support Services (BSS), various measures were facilitated to provide companies with targeted support to help them on their transformation journey, for example in resource management or employee training.
"The expansion of our financing and advisory services is especially gratifying and important given the still challenging global environment. In difficult times too, DEG is a sought-after partner for private-sector enterprises and is specifically committed to transformation. Together with our customers, we create jobs, income and prospects, contribute to driving economic transformation processes locally and to mitigating the consequences of climate change," commented DEG CEO Roland Siller.
In the German business, DEG committed EUR 516 million from its own funds (2022: EUR 392 million). As well as loans and equity investments for German companies, primarily in the manufacturing industry, this figure includes financing for local companies purchasing German components, for example. DEG committed around EUR 45 million in loan financing for smaller investment projects by German and European companies in Africa via the AfricaConnect 2023 programme implemented with BMZ funds - for modern production facilities in Morocco and Tunisia, for example.
DEG provided a total of EUR 680 million in 2023 for investments that promote climate and environmental protection (2022: EUR 609 million), such as wind farms and solar parks in Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Chile.
From a regional perspective, the majority of financing commitments from DEG's own funds in 2023 (EUR 839 million) went to companies in Latin America, where further opportunities were identified in Brazil and Mexico, among others (2022: EUR 575 million). EUR 421 million was committed to companies in Asia, followed by Africa/MENA with EUR 388 million. Broken down by sector, the main focus in 2023 was once again on the financial sector, followed by manufacturing.
Two years after the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, DEG continues to stand by its Ukrainian customers. This includes support for the "Course to Independence" initiative of the agricultural enterprise Astarta, provided by DEG Impulse, supporting agricultural micro-entrepreneurs and thus also improving the local food supply.
The development impact of the investments co-financed by DEG is considerable - its existing customers in developing countries employed around 3.3 million people and generated EUR 235 billion in local income in 2023 alone.
DEG assumes that conditions will remain challenging in 2024. "We expect the various challenges and volatilities affecting a number of regions in the world to continue in 2024. As a development finance institution, we continue to focus our efforts on global sustainability goals and the opportunities they generate. We constantly strive to support the transformation of our customers with suitable instruments and thus further strengthen their resilience," emphasised DEG CEO Roland Siller.
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