Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to UK boosts access to finance for women-owned businesses and clean energy projects in Nigeria, published on 21 February 2022, what data she plans to publish in relation to the impact of the financing facility with First Bank of Nigeria.

Half of all adults in Nigeria lack access to finance. The investment of CDC Group - British International Investment (BII) from 4 April - in First Bank of Nigeria aims to address the limited access to capital faced by underbanked groups in the country. This will include directing funding to women-owned and led businesses as well as to local Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). For investments with a specific gender lens, BII applies the 2X criteria, a global benchmark for what it means to 'invest in women'. Impact data on the financing facility with First Bank of Nigeria will be published in summer 2022, around the same time as the CDC 2021 Annual Review.

Information on all of BII's investments is published annually on its website (available https://www.cdcgroup.com/en/our-impact/search-results/). In addition, details of the impact of BII's investments are included in its Annual Review. The latest Annual Review is also available on the CDC website (https://www.cdcgroup.com/en/annual-review-2020/).