The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AFREXIMBANK

  • Russian, Afreximbank to develop aviation

    The Russian Export Centre Group (REC) will collaborate with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to explore opportunities to develop Africa’s aviation industry and to support other sectors, such as mining, agro-processing, railways and the metals industry, the two institutions have announced in Cairo, Egypt.

    This followed the signing of a collaboration document during a meeting between Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah and Anna Belyaeva, Managing Director, International Business Development of the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR), a subsidiary of REC.

    Last month, REC became the latest international financial institution to join Afreximbank as a Class “C” shareholder, according to a statement from the bank.

    Oramah said the deal was in line with the bank’s strategy to promote intra-African trade and the industrialisation of the continent and would focus primarily on aviation.

    “According to a study highlighting the high sensitivity of African trade to transport costs, a 10 per cent reduction in transport costs would increase trade by 25 per cent,” noted Oramah.

    “Given the limitations of road and rail infrastructure in Africa, the aviation sector is critical to Africa’s trade, growth and development objectives. As such, improving air transport infrastructure across Africa has become a priority area our bank,” he added.

    He said the collaboration with REC would involve the organisation of business missions to Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria to meet the authorities and key stakeholders in the aviation industries to discuss their development plans and identify areas where they required funding and technical assistance.

     

  • Afreximbank, Development Bank sign pact on regional integration

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Development Bank of Central African  States  (BDEAC) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to harmonise their efforts in the promotion of trade and regional integration.

    Afreximbank President, Benedict Oramah, who spoke during the signing of the MOU at the Bank’s Cairo headquarters on Tuesday, said the two institutions would collaborate in the identification, preparation and financing of projects and trade transactions in African states that are members of both entities.

    Through co-financing, knowledge-sharing and capacity-building work, Afreximbank and BDEAC, he said, will join efforts to intensify industrialisation, expand exports and promote intra-regional trade across countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

    BDEAC President, Fortunato-Ofa Mbo Nchama, said his institution’s decision to partner Afreximbank was based on the strong alignment that existed between the strategic objectives of the two entities.

    He said the collaboration would contribute to BDEAC’s work in supporting the structural transformation and diversification of Central African economies through the construction of logistics infrastructure and industrial capacities and through the development of agro-processing and other key economic sectors, noting that those economies were still heavily dependent on commodity exports,

    BDEAC is a public regional bank established in 1975 to promote the development and economic integration of CEMAC countries. The members are Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

  • Afreximbank gets two directors

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has appointed two senior managers as directors.

    They are Obi Emekekwue, who is Director and Global Head of the Communications and Events Management Department, and Chandi Mwenebungu, who becomes Director, Treasury and Markets Department.

    Prior to the appointments, Emekekwue and Mwenebungu were heads of the Communications and Treasury at the bank at the level of Senior Managers.

    The bank’s Communications and Treasury section, which had operated as units, were upgraded to full departments last year as part of a general reorganisation of the bank.

    Emekekwue joined Afrexim-bank in 2012. Earlier, he worked at the United Nations’s Press Office of the Department of Public Information at the New York Headquarters.

    His UN career included serving variously as Public Information Officer, Media Specialist and Programme Specialist in several agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and as Communications Specialist at the United Nations Country Team in Papua New Guinea from 2006 to 2007.

    Emekekwue began his career at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Ibadan, followed by a stint at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, before joining the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) where he served as the UN/North America Bureau Chief from 1989 to 1994.

    He holds a Master of Arts in International Relations and a postgraduate certificate in International Law and Diplomacy from St. John’s University, New York, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

    Mwenebungu, who joined Afreximbank in 2013, has over 20 years’experience in treasury and finance in Africa and Europe. He holds a master’s in accounting and finance.

    He is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA), and an associate member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).

     

  • Afreximbank gets two directors

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has appointed two senior managers as directors.

    They are Obi Emekekwue, who is Director and Global Head of the Communications and Events Management Department, and Chandi Mwenebungu, who becomes Director, Treasury and Markets Department.

    Prior to the appointments, Emekekwue and Mwenebungu were heads of the Communications and Treasury at the bank at the level of Senior Managers.

    The bank’s Communications and Treasury section, which had operated as units, were upgraded to full departments last year as part of a general reorganisation of the bank.

    Emekekwue joined Afrexim-bank in 2012. Earlier, he worked at the United Nations’s Press Office of the Department of Public Information at the New York Headquarters.

    His UN career included serving variously as Public Information Officer, Media Specialist and Programme Specialist in several agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and as Communications Specialist at the United Nations Country Team in Papua New Guinea from 2006 to 2007.

    Emekekwue began his career at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Ibadan, followed by a stint at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, before joining the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) where he served as the UN/North America Bureau Chief from 1989 to 1994.

    He holds a Master of Arts in International Relations and a postgraduate certificate in International Law and Diplomacy from St. John’s University, New York, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

    Mwenebungu, who joined Afreximbank in 2013, has over 20 years’experience in treasury and finance in Africa and Europe. He holds a master’s in accounting and finance.

    He is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA), and an associate member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).

  • Afreximbank to expand Africa’s regional value chains

    African countries should take make use of factoring in order to take advantage of the opportunities for expanding the continent’s regional value chains, participants at a regional factoring conference held in Dakar have heard.

    Managing Director of the Intra-African Trade Initiative at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Kanayo Awani, said at the opening of the two-day Regional Conference on Factoring that, in spite of the potential upside, Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continued to face difficulties in accessing finance.

    Awani, who is also Chairperson of FCI’s Africa Chapter, noted that in other regions, such enterprises accounted for the largest shares of trade finance transactions concluded through factoring, noting that in Europe, for instance, factoring represented 10.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product at 1.5 trillion Euros.

    He added Africa only accounted for one per cent of global factoring transactions, saying that the low volumes of factoring in Africa were largely attributable to lack of information and awareness.

    She said that the conference, co-organised by Afreximbank and FCI, the global representative body for the factoring and receivables finance industry, was to equip participants with relevant tools to tap into the opportunities available to grow factoring in the continent, especially in the context of intra-regional trade.

  • Nigeria to host Afreximbank’s 25th anniversary

    Nigeria has emerged the host for the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Annual Meetings (AAM2018) and 25th Anniversary scheduled to July 9-14, the bank announced at the weekend in Cairo.

    Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, conveyed the country’s readiness to host the event in a letter to the bank in which she stated that the Federal Government felt highly honoured at being considered to host the meetings and anniversary.

    The two events will be held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja and will feature seminars exploring various aspects of trade and economic development and looking at the transformation of African economies through trade.

    There will also be the meeting of the Afreximbank Advisory Group on Trade Finance and Export Development in Africa.

    Other activities include an investment forum hosted by the government, a trade exhibition, and formal celebration of the bank’s 25th Anniversary.

    The events will conclude with the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).

  • Afreximbank names JSC Russian Export Centre shareholder

    JSC Russian Export Centre (REC) has been named shareholder to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) following its successful subscription to Class “C” shares of the African multilateral trade finance bank.

    The shareholding, which became effective on 29 December 2017, followed discussions between the Bank and Russian officials during which the two sides explored ways of cooperating to take advantage of the numerous opportunities for trade and development between Russia and the African continent.

    The discussions resulted in an agreement signed by President of Afreximbank, Benedict Oramah and Chief Executive Officer of REC, Petr Fradkov, by which REC committed to subscribing to the Class “C” Afreximbank shares.

    With the new partnership, the two entities have already started working actively on joint projects in a number of African countries, focusing mainly on mining and transport infrastructure.

  • Afreximbank taps Islamic finance to support Africa trade

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has raised around $260 million via three sharia-compliant facilities to support small- and medium-sized businesses in the region, as African markets gradually open to Islamic finance.

    Cairo-based Afreximbank, which was founded by African governments and other investors in 1993 and focuses on trade finance, obtained a $100 million financing from the Islamic Corp for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

    Afreximbank said it would use the facility to provide sharia-compliant financing to small- and medium-sized enterprises across its member countries.

    It also signed two financing agreements with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corp (ITFC) worth $100 million and 50 million euros ($59.8 million) to help finance exports among African countries.

    Both ICD and ITFC are part of the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank group of companies. African governments including Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa have issued Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in recent years. Nigeria-based Africa Finance Corp also issued a debut $150 million Islamic bond last year, the first African government-backed entity to sell sukuk.

  • Afreximbank promotes trade financing

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has reiterated its commitment to promote and finance intra-and extra-African trade, its President, Benedict Oramah, has said.

    Speaking in Eritrea, when the country’s President, Isaias Afwerki, received a delegation of the bank, Oramah outlined the bank’s strategy, which focused on intra-African trade, industralisation and export development as well as trade finance leadership. He said Eritrea could benefit from its implementation when it becomes a member of the bank.

    President Afwerki urged African financial institutions to focus on assisting African countries to address the disadvantages arising from the underdevelopment of the continent’s economy.

    He said despite the fact that Africa was endowed with 60 per cent of the world’s resources, the continent continued to be disadvantaged because of the underdeveloped economy, which saw it exporting mainly raw materials and primary products.

    “Eritrea believes in working with financial institutions that can help in transforming the African economy,” he said, adding that, in the last 25 years, the country had been trying to invest heavily in infrastructure.

    President Afwerki expressed Eritrea’s willingness to join Afreximbank as a member and said it would aim to be an effective contributor to encourage and ensure the creation of the environment for the delivery of the services for which the Bank was created.

    Eritrea would implement the required procedures to become an active member of the Bank, he pledged.

    Oramah commended Eritrea for the many changes it was implementing to transform the economy, including in the areas of transport, water and agriculture.

    Joining Oramah on the Afreximbank delegation were Head of Communications and Events, Obi Emekekwue; Regional Chief Operating Officer, East Africa, Kudakwashe Matereke; Special Assistant to the President on Banking and Special Initiatives, Ekene Uzor; and Jacqueline Clarisse Motsebo of the Board Secretariat.

    The delegation also held a separate meeting with Berhane Abrehe, Minister of Finance of Eritrea, and Hagos Ghebrehiwet, Economic Advisor to the President of Eritrea, to brief them on the bank’s programmes and services.

  • Afreximbank lists hurdles for intra-African trade

    Limited knowledge about trade opportunities in African countries was among the biggest impediments to intra-African trade, Amr Kamel, the Executive Vice President for Business Development and Corporate Banking at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), has said.

    Speaking during a panel discussion at the Africa 2017 Forum, organised in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Kamel said that contrary to the popular view that lack of infrastructure was the biggest challenge to intra-African trade, such trade was actually being hindered mainly because people in one African country lacked information about trade opportunities in other African countries.

    He noted that a recent study co-sponsored by Afreximbank showed that some African countries were importing certain products at high cost from outside Africa while the same products were available at much lower costs in nearby African countries.

    Kamel said that the fact that Africa was able to support the current level of overall trade with its existing infrastructure meant that infrastructure was not necessarily the issue but rather the challenge was how to make more of that trade intra-African.

    He expressed satisfaction that African countries were gradually beginning to realise that intra-African trade held the key to Africa’s development.

    Kamel announced that Afreximbank was building certification centres in an attempt to help address the issue of the quality of goods produced in African countries. Having the goods certified to international standards would make them acceptable exports into the international markets.

    Timothy McPherson Jr., Minister of Finance of Jamaica, said that the African Diaspora was key to the continent’s integration as its members thought of investment in Africa in terms of the entire continent rather than segmenting it into countries and regions.