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Tag: AFREXIMBANK

  • Afreximbank names leaders in intra-African trade

    Afreximbank names leaders in intra-African trade

    Egypt could be a front runner in transforming intra-African trade and boosting innovation and industrialisation on the African continent, the Managing Director of the Intra-African Trade Initiative at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Kanayo Awani, has said

    Speaking during the opening of a one-day workshop on intra-African trade, organised by Afreximbank, in Cairo, she said despite current low trade figures, opportunities abounded and there were many areas in which Egypt could expand its trade with the rest of Africa.

    “With the new significant policy shift toward export promotion, especially within Africa, and capitalizing on regional trade agreements, like the upcoming Continental Free Trade Area, an improved and dedicated shipping line from Sokhna Port to Mombasa, quality and competitive Egyptian products and services, Egypt can transform its trade with Africa and become a major trade partner,” she stated.

    Egypt could expand its export trade in textiles, electricity, utilities and construction services, said Ms. Awani, who added that there were opportunities to boost pharmaceuticals exports to Nigeria, and furniture to Kenya, as well as to import beef from Sudan and fruits and vegetables from East Africa.

    The Managing Director said that Afreximbank had engaged with Egyptian businesses over the last year in order to address their trade finance needs and to identify the trade facilitation issues they faced as they tried to expand into existing African markets or to enter new ones.

    She explained that the Bank decided to organise the workshop in order to respond to some of the concerns that had been expressed by the businesses and to share some of the Bank’s interventions that responded directly to the issues raised.

  • ITFC, Afreximbank support African trade with $100m, 50m Euros

    The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a multilateral financial institution, have signed a $100 million and a 50 million Euros agreements to support financing exports among African countries and the rest of the world.

    The deals were signed by ITFC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hani Salem Sonbol, and Executive Vice President, Business Development & Corporate Banking of Afreximbank, Amr Kamel, at the Afro-Arab trade finance forum.

    The event was organised by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) in Dubai under the Arab Africa Trade Bridges Programme and by participants in the Afro-Arab Trade Finance Forum.

    The facilities are for supporting procurement from suppliers from the member and non-member countries, including local purchase, to promote trade across Africa.

    “This partnership comes as part of ITFC’s commitment to support the development of the African member countries’ exports as an important lever toward the sustainable growth, job creation and poverty reduction,” Sonbol said.

    He pointed out that the partnership was aimed at financing African OIC member countries under the “Arab-Africa Trade Bridges” Programme, a regional trade promotion programme that aims at addressing some of the challenges faced in promoting trade between the two regions and supporting Southsouth cooperation.

    Sonbol delivered the keynote speech at the opening session of the forum, focused on identifying the prospects and opportunities between the Arab countries and Africa, and the best ways to tackle the challenges that hinder the development of the trade flows in these countries.

    Kamel said the Afreximbank, established by African governments and institutional investors, saw the  agreement as a stepping stone towards greater collaboration in pursuit of the Bank’s shared vision with ITFC.

    He said: “ITFC has demonstrated that it stands shoulder to shoulder with the African Export-Import Bank as they collaborate to develop the African Continent and promote inter-African trade.

    “I see great prospect for the unfolding Afreximbank-ITFC partnership,” Kamel adding: “But I am mindful that realising the tremendous opportunities will require determination and hard work. We are committed to investing our resources in that direction.”

     

     

  • Afreximbank finances trade with 100m Euros loan

    Afreximbank finances trade with 100m Euros loan

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday got 100 million Euros credit line from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

    The fund, received at African Union-European Union Summit, in Abidjan, will be used by the lender to boost trade finance in Africa.

    This facility will help the lender in financing trade-related long-term productive investments by private sectors or commercially operated public sector entities in Afreximbank member countries.

    In a statement, the bank said the seven-year loan will finance trade-related investments and projects in Africa, with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in export manufacturing.

    “It is expected to enhance intra-African trade, Africa’s value-added exports, as well as trade with the European Union, thereby strengthening trade as a key driver of economic growth and competitiveness. The facility agreement will add strong impetus to our drive for expanded intra-African trade and for the promotion of industrialisation and export manufacturing across Africa,” President of Afreximbank, Benedict Oramah, said.

    He was delighted that the EIB decided to partner with Afreximbank in the pursuit of Africa’s trade development. “We are confident that, with the facility, we can look forward to mutually beneficial development outcomes for our two institutions and to the further strengthening of the relationship between Africa and Europe,” he said.

    Oramah said that the purpose of the facility was fully aligned with Afreximbank’s current strategy which prioritised intra-African trade, intra–African investments and export manufacturing, expressing the view that it would contribute to employment creation, increased economic activities, and increase in tax revenues for fiscally constrained governments, amongst other outcomes.

  • Afreximbank: innovative financial solutions support SMEs’ growth

    Afreximbank: innovative financial solutions support SMEs’ growth

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has said that innovative financial solutions like credit insurance will help promote Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) growth and boost regional economic integration.

    The position was disclosed at the end of one-day workshop organised by the Afreximbank in collaboration with FCI and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), in Sal Island, Cape Verde as part of the Bank’s Annual Structured Trade Finance Seminar.

    The FCI is the leading global association for factoring and open account receivables finance. ACBF supports capacity building initiatives in Africa through investments in capacity building institutions; technical assistance for capacity building projects and programmes; and engagement in knowledge and learning activities.

    The bank said that the basic tenets of factoring or debtor finance, the role of credit insurance in unlocking access to finance for SMEs and the best ways to promote the development of the two financial instruments, support economic growth and regional integration in Africa.

    Managing Director of Afreximbank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative and Chairman of the Africa Chapter of FCI, Kanayo Awani, told participants that “despite new market opportunities opened up by the process of globalisation and increased regional integration, SMEs continue to be constrained due to their lack of resources, their difficulties in achieving economies of scale and the higher transaction costs they face compared to large firms”.

    “We are persuaded, though, that the solution to these challenges exist in rolling out effective and innovative financial products such as factoring,” she said.

    Awani noted that Africa currently accounted for less than one per cent of the global factoring turnover, saying that the industry was largely dominated, at 60 per cent, by European factors whose turnover represented 10.4 per cent of the European Union’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016. That figure amounted to 1.5 trillion Euros.

    She disclosed that to promote the emergence and growth of factors across Africa, Afreximbank provides dedicated lines of credit and offers technical assistance to players in the financial industry. The bank also provides legal advice to regulators using the Model Law on Factoring which it developed.

    Awani added that Afreximbank had forged strong partnerships with leading institutions, such as FCI and ACBF, as part of its education and training activities.

    In his contribution, Executive Director at the Central Bank of Cape Verde, Carlos Furtado, who stood in for the Governor of the bank, said that by providing immediate liquidity to SMEs, factoring gave them the financial boost to allow them to integrate into regional and global value chains of growth sectors.

  • Afreximbank finances African trade

    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 current 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 became 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 that 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 State and said that 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 President 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 unveils Guarantee Programme for Africa financing

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday launched a new guarantee programme meant to unlock capital and leverage much-needed financing into Africa.

    The Afreximbank Guarantee Programme (AFGAP), launched during the Advanced Structured Trade Finance Seminar and Workshops held in Sal, Cape Verde, and organised by the bank, will help to de-risk African transactions to make them more attractive to investors and financiers.

    The programme, which offers a variety of credit enhancement solution to clients in Africa, is part of Exim-plus, a broad strategy developed by Afreximbank to position itself as a comprehensive trade facilitation and financing solution centre in Africa.

    Under Exim-plus, Afreximbank is offering a broad array of instruments that are often associated with export credit agencies and other specialised trade and development finance institutions, thereby differentiating itself from normal commercial banks and development financial institutions.

    Speaking during the launch ceremony, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President in charge of Business Development and Corporate Banking, Amr Kamel, said that AFGAP was a demonstration of Afreximbank’s unwavering commitment to delivering on its mandate of promoting intra- and extra-African trade, in particular, the mandate of using risk bearing instruments to promote trade in Africa, by introducing new risk mitigation solutions to address the trade finance needs of the continent.

    AFGAP would bring “additionality” to Africa, by mobilizing financing that would otherwise not have been possible, to support the economic development of the continent, he said.

    Kamel called for support for the programme from partners and other relevant stakeholders, saying that although Afreximbank had taken a giant step in launching the programme, it could not achieve the desired results alone. “We are, therefore, calling on partners interested in Africa’s development and all relevant parties to work with Afreximbank to support the promotion of trade and trade-related investments in Africa.”

    Head of Afreximbank’s Guarantees and Specialised Finance Unit, Kofi Asumadu Ado, said that Afreximbank’s approach to trade finance issues in Africa was to identify the challenges and then to design specific solutions to address them. The AFGAP was a concrete solution designed to address a challenge that had been identified by the Bank, he explained.

  • Afreximbank’s DRs start bullish on Mauritius Stock Exchange

    Afreximbank’s DRs start bullish on Mauritius Stock Exchange

    Following the successful close of the private placement with subscription far in excess of the $100 million minimum, Depositary Receipts (DRs) of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have  started trading on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM), with the Bank topping the list of issuers in terms of capital raised prior to a listing.

    As per regulation, 5,000 DRs were listed at an initial price of $4.30 per DR. On the first trading day, the DRs closed, up 2.3 per cent, at $4.40 per DR and a market capitalisation of more than $170 million.

    The listing of the Depositary Receipts represents a big first for Africa’s equity capital markets and marks the achievement of a unique initiative on which Afreximbank had been working with SBM Group, a leading Bank in the financial sector in Mauritius, as lead arranger and depositary of the DRs.

    In a ceremony marking the first day of trading of the DRs, Afreximbank President, Dr. Benedict Oramah, noted that by investing in the DRs, investors would immediately diversify their risks across the 46 economies of the bank’s African member states, with diverse opportunities, vibrancy and risk profiles, thereby protecting themselves from country and currency risks.

  • Afreximbank beats private placement target on Depository Receipt

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is off to a successful listing of its Depositary Receipts (DRs) on the official market of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM).

    This is coming on the heels of a successful close of the private placement with subscriptions far in excess of the $100 million minimum target set to launch the DR programme.

    A statement by the Head of Communications, Afreximbank, Obi Emekekwue,  said the first day of listing and trading of the Afreximbank DRs will be on October 4, when 5,000 DRs must, by regulation, be made available for trading at a price of $4.30 per DR. The private placement closed on September 26.

    In its communique on July 24, SEM had announced approval of the proposed listing on the official market of up to 69,770,000 depositary receipts backed by 6,977 Class D shares of Afreximbank, subject to Afreximbank raising the minimum aggregate amount of $100 million through the private placement. The approval was for Afreximbank to list the full 69, 770,000 within 12 months.

    In pursuance of the DR issuance, Afreximbank organised investor meetings and road shows in Port Louis, Lagos, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Nairobi, New York, and London, drawing very positive responses from the investing public. Afreximbank’s goal was to achieve a subscription level of between the required aggregate minimum of $100 million and an upper limit of $300 million, notwithstanding the 12-month window allowed.

    Reacting to the conclusion of the private placement, Afreximbank President, Dr. Benedict Oramah, said he was impressed by the high level of support received from investors, saying that the DRs would enhance the bank’s capitalisation, enable it to contribute more significantly to narrowing the trade financing gap in Africa and grow the intra-African trade and export manufacturing in Africa. He added that it would pave the way for greater private sector equity participation in the bank and deepen Africa’s capital markets.

    “We are pleased to have successfully opened the bank to the equity capital markets. This will complement the tremendous support Afreximbank continues to receive from its core sovereign shareholders and place the bank in a stronger position to pursue the vast opportunities before it,” Oramah said.

  • Afreximbank, finance professionals to meet on structured trade finance

    Afreximbank, finance professionals to meet on structured trade finance

    The African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) says it is committed to boosting African trade by enhancing the capacity of African  professionals on international trade and trade-related project financing issues.

    The bank said that as part of its efforts in this regard, it is organising a workshop for stakeholders on Structured Trade Finance in Cape Verde from Nov. 6 to Nov. 9.

    The bank said in a statement in Lagos that the workshop was being organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance of Cape Verde.

    The statement quoted Dr Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, as saying that the workshop was also an important platform for African bankers and other trade finance practitioners to make major contributions that would boost African trade.

    According to Oramah, the 2017 seminar, the 17th in the annual series, will be part of Afreximbank’s effort to prepare African banks and financial institutions to meet the trade finance needs of the continent.

    He urged other professionals interested in participating in the event to visit the bank’s  Website (www.afreximbank.com).

    The four-day event will focus on “Receivables and Payables Finance” and “Syndications and Agency’’ and a workshop on factoring.

    African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.

    Since 1994, it has approved more than $51 billion in credit facilities for African businesses.

    Afreximbank had total assets of $11.7 billion as at Dec. 31, 2016 and is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch).

    The bank has its headquarters in Cairo.

  • Madagascar joins Afreximbank

    Madagascar joins Afreximbank

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said on Monday that Madagascar had joined the bank as a participating state.

    A statement by the continental trade finance institution in Lagos, said Madagascar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Béatrice Jeanine Atallah, formalized the country’s membership of the bank on June 24.

    According to the statement, the signing of the instrument commits Madagascar to take all necessary steps for the ratification of bank’s Establishment Agreement.

    “Membership of the bank gives Madagascar automatic access to the full range of products and facilities offered by Afreximbank, including trade finance facilities, project finance services, trade information and advisory services, among other.

    “Under the terms of the Agreement, new countries are required to first issue an instrument of acceptance and accession and then proceed to formally ratify the Agreement in order to fully activate their membership of the bank,” the statement said.

    Current Afreximbank participating states are – Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, and Lesotho.

    Others are – Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Participating States would become shareholders when they acquire shares in the bank.

    Afreximbank shareholders are a mix of public and private entities divided into four classes.

    NAN