Afrexim invests over $10 billion to support devt
The African Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank, a pan-African trade finance institution, has for the past 30 years invested over $10 billion to support Ghana in various sectors.
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The sectors include agriculture, agro-processing, financial institutions, energy and hospitality among others.
Established in 1993 under the auspices of the African Development Bank, Ghana was the first country to receive support from Afrexim to strengthen the cocoa sector.
In all, the pan-African multilateral institution has spent about $90 billion since its establishment to support countries in Africa in sectors such as finance, commodity crisis management and trade.
Recently, it supported its member countries to procure personal protective equipment (PPE), vaccines and test kits during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as the importation of food and fertilisers.
Annual Meetings
The President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afrexim Bank, Professor Benedict Okey Oramah, made these known in Accra last Friday at the launch of activities to mark the bank’s 30th annual meetings.
The meetings, which coincides with Afrexim's 30th anniversary celebrations, will be held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) from June 18 to 21, this year.
It is on the theme: “Delivering the Vision. Building Prosperity for Africans”.
The annual meetings and anniversary celebrations will bring together thousands of people, including African and Caribbean leaders, senior government officials, other policymakers, corporate leaders, bankers and the academia.
The meetings will include the Annual General Meeting of shareholders and an extensive seminar programme, including plenaries and side events.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to grace the occasion.
Giving a breakdown of some of the interventions, Prof. Oramah recalled that during the commodity crisis of 2015 and 2016 and at a time when many international banks left the continent, Afrexim made sure its member countries did not go into trade payment defaults.
He explained that about $10 billion was disbursed to support countries on the continent to solve that challenge.
On COVID-19, he revealed that the bank released $16 billion to enable beneficiary countries on the continent to purchase test kits, PPE, and vaccines among other things.
Under the Medical Supplies Platform, Prof. Oramah said the bank provided $2 billion to address the 30 per cent gap in the procurement vaccines faced by countries on the continent, while $8 billion went to support food and fertiliser supplies.
He indicated that the bank had four pillars that underpinned its strategic plan, with intra African trade and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) being high on its agenda.
The Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, lauded the Afrexim Bank for supporting the country with a $750 million loan last year to help stabilise the economy.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, expressed excitement over the healthy partnership between the country and Afrexim Bank.
“Because the bank has been our critical partner in the management of our foreign market, the central bank lodged $500 million of our foreign reserves into the account of the bank,” he pointed out.
