AFD - 2019 Universal registration document

FINANCIAL INFORMATION 5

Recent changes and future prospects

5.1 Recent changes and future prospects

Finally, the year 2020 will, more than ever before, be placed under AFD Group’s seal of exemplarity. The group will strengthen its backbone of accountability for sustainable development analysis and opinion on project evaluation, including the mitigation of environmental and social risks and the monitoring of project execution. The Group will also aim to reduce its internal carbon footprint, particularly when it comes to the business travel of employees. Finally, the Group will pursue its communication policy towards the French population, designed to highlight the impact of its action and to educate younger people in the area of SDGs. Africa confirmed as a priority for 2020: P The year 2020 will be a year marked by numerous events focused on Africa and calling for a telling contribution from AFD, in particular the Africa-France Summit, sustainable cities and territories, and also on the Africa 2020 season for innovations from the continent and diasporas from June to December. These events embrace the Ouagadougou message on the revamping of the partnership between Africa and France. They will promote a change in the way we look at the continent and promote a Franco-African partnership approach. At the operational level, AFD will continue its efforts in 2020 to accelerate implementation on the ground using a 3D approach, particularly in crisis areas. Lastly, AFD will carry out its role as counter-cyclical backer to support the African economies affected by the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Thematically, the commitment strategy will continue to be based on the priorities already set in 2019 and focus in particular on Human Services, biodiversity preservation, and the fight against climate change. 5.1.3 Borrowings On 30 Ǿ January Ǿ 2020, AFD’s Board of Directors authorised AFD to borrow a nominal maximum amount of €9bn for its operations on its own behalf in 2020, in the form of bank loans or bonds. This ceiling includes a maximum loan of €0.424bn from the French Treasury. 5.1.4 Information about trends There has been no significant deterioration in the outlook for the issuer and its subsidiaries (considered as a whole) since the last audited financial statements of 31 Ǿ December Ǿ 2019. 5.1.5 Signi fi cant change in the issuer’s fi nancial position There has been no significant change in the outlook for the issuer and its subsidiaries (considered as a whole) since the last audited financial statements of 31 Ǿ December Ǿ 2019.

5.1.1 Recent changes ACTIVITIES

AFD Group’s global activity reached €14.12bn in commitment approvals in 2019, an increase of €2.68bn on the 2018 figure and in line with the Group’s trajectory and the objective set by the French President to achieve a French Official Development Assistance (ODA) trajectory of 0.55% of GNI. GOVERNANCE AFD’s governance system has not changed. 5.1.2 Future prospects The year 2020 will mark a stabilisation of the level of AFD Group’s commitments at in a context where emerging and developing countries will be impacted in 2020 by the COVID-19 crisis. AFD Group will proceed with a paradigm shift in its management mode with a gradual transition from activity management through commitments approvals to activity management through signatures and disbursements, these being the conditions that impact the Group’s actions. AFD Group has set itself the target of achieving a net increase in signatures in 2020, displaying growth in the Group’s commitments over the past three years. For 2020, the disbursement target for AFD Group totalled 8.5 bn. This target stems from the growth in the Group’s commitments over the past few years and the volume of signatures achieved in 2019. In line with its objective of being 100% Paris agreement, in the first half of 2020 AFD Group will help build a robust stance on the Climate/Biodiversity nexus with a view to the COP 15 in Kunming. In 2020, it will complete work to specify the 100% social link objective and contribute significantly to the Equality Generation Forum of June 2020. PROPARCO will continue its strategic alignment on these two objectives of the Paris Agreement and Social Link. Finally, the multisectoral strategic dialogue will be extended to new countries to support the ownership of these objectives by our partners. AFDGroupwill use its business plan to structure the development of its actions, working tools and corporate culture by the year 2022. It will continue to deconcentrate to bring teams closer to customers and partners. It will be structured as a Group with the future integration of Expertise France, and the strengthening and pooling of sectors at Group level. This transformation will also overhaul staff regulations and strengthen managerial culture. The robustness of AFD Group’s economic model will be reinforced with the consolidation of the Group’s equity in order to cope with the increase in exposures, constant management of general expenses and strengthening of the management control function, optimisation of the Group’s hedging policy against the main financial risks it faces, plus increased control over income generation factors and cost centres. The Finance and Risk functions will continue to adapt their processes and tools to the Group’s new size, starting with the finance/risk information system, the master plan for which will be implemented in 2020.

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UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2019

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