World Bank raises $160 mln for Ghana cell provider

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - The World Bank's private-sector lender, the International Financial Corp, said on Tuesday it had provided a $90 million loan and raised another $70 million commercially to help mobile phone company Zain expand its network in Ghana.

IFC said the syndicated portion of the loan was oversubscribed by 30 percent and the remainder provided by Cordiant Capital, the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund Limited, FirstRand Bank (FSRJ.J), and the Netherlands Development Finance Company.

Kuwait-based Zain is the world's third-largest mobile phone operator.

"Our subscriber base in Ghana already exceeded one million and this investment will enable us to scale up our operations and provide affordable and reliable communications services to a much larger part of the population," said Philip Sowah, Zain's country manager in Ghana. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)