The Development Bank of Southern Africa said on Friday it had delivered an encouraging set of results for the year ended March 31, despite the adverse impact of a subdued economy on the demand for infrastructure funding.

Although economic conditions affected the level of disbursements, emerging trends indicated a capacity to deliver far greater high-impact investment, DBSA CEO Patrick Dlamini said.

"The bank’s performance this year was encouraging, considering the difficult economic environment compounded by the governance challenges experienced in the public and private sector alike," he said.

"We achieved unprecedented levels of project approvals as well as commitments and we expect to see many of these come to fruition, as disbursements, in the next financial year and beyond.”  

DBSA reported profitability of R3.1 billion for the year, up from R2.28 billion in 2018.

It said 433,297 households were to benefit from funds committed to municipalities, while 6,728 learners had benefitted from eight newly built schools and 40,307 from 63 refurbishments of storm-damaged schools.

Just over 1,000 local small, medium and micro enterprises and subcontractors were employed in the construction projects and 61,500 people gained access to improved health facilities.

The DBSA, whose mission is to improve people’s lives, boost economic growth and promote regional integration through infrastructure development, said  R3.2 billion worth of projects from black-owned entities were approved for project preparation funding, while R1.9 billion worth were approved for funding.

The bank delivered R37 billion in total infrastructure development support, with development loan and bond assets now standing at R77.11 billion.

It said the government’s commitment to revive and grow the economy was expected to improve business confidence and boost economic activity, lifting demand for infrastructure funding.

"The DBSA has a healthy pipeline of projects that form a solid springboard for success in the future. Our solid foundation of financial sustainability is key to realising our potential for development impact," CEO Dlamini said.

"This position of strength sets a strong platform for the DBSA to start addressing some of the enormous challenges that we face in South Africa and Africa at large."