African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has donated eight billion dollars out of the 25 billion dollars it planned on a rotating basis to support intra-regional trade between 2017 and 2021.
“I am pleased to report that in two years of execution, about eight billion dollars have been donated supporting trade and investment flows across borders”, The bank’s President, Prof. Benedict Oramah, said.
“Afreximbank has dedicated significant resources towards creating the infrastructure that will support export manufacturing”, he continued.
Credit facilities have been granted for the construction of Border Markets in Southern Africa as well as for roads connecting multiple countries in West Africa.
“We have made improving approach to trade finance, particularly trade services an essential element of our work”, Prof. Benedict Oramah, said.
Afreximbank has set itself the goal of granting trade finance and trade services lines amounting to eight billion dollars to 500 African banks spread across the continent, by the end of 2021.
He said, Afreximbank’s net income rose from 220 million dollars in 2017 to 276 million dollars in 2018, driven by a 19 per cent growth in net interest income and a contained rise in expenses.
He said the banks’s shareholders fund increased from 2.6 billion dollars in 2018 to 3.5 billion dollars in 2019.
He said, “Based on the strong performance and the transformative initiatives the Bank executed in 2018, it was voted African Bank of the Year by the African Banker.”
The Afreximbank boss conveyed optimism that the platform, by 2020, would hold over 500,000 data sets making it the largest repository of Customer Due Diligence Information on African entities globally.
Also, the Prime Minister, Republic of Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, promised the country’s support to support Nigeria and the rest of Africa in their search for economic development.
Medvedev said, in spite of the difficult global economic developments, positive goals could still be achieved with effective partnership “when we do it together.”
According to him, Russia and African economies are endowed richly, a development that makes strategic investments essential on the continent, to support growth.
The prime minister said that Russia would use its expertise to increase the value of the continent’s primary sector, especially in industrial productions, mining and agriculture.
Africa and Russia will deepen their friendship on the basis of business and more active interactions.
