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The 30th edition of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Annual Meetings (AAM) has opened in Accra, affirming the bank’s commitment to growing Africa’s intra-Africa trade.
With an asset base and guarantee of US$30 billion, the bank has been adjudged financially solid.
This has seen the bank disburse more than US$100 billion over the last 30 years to support Africa’s growth.
Afreximbank Group was unveiled to a gathering of African leaders, industry leaders, academia, financial institutions and the media, among others.
Afreximbank President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Professor Benedict Oramah, highlighted the bank’s major achievements in the past 30 years and where the bank would be in another decade.
Oramah mentioned the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which was up and running as one of its achievement.
He said this had saved the continent US$5 billion in intra-African transfer charges, stating that this will also expedite and enable payments for intra-African trade in African currencies.
Oramah further said they would domesticate all intra-African payment and extend the same to the CARICOM, saying that Central Banks in that region have already adopted the PAPSS as their preferred payment infrastructure for a pilot project.
With this, Oramah said Afreximbank had backed the Clearing and Settlements with an amount of US$3 billion.
In addition, he said in 2018, the bank in collaboration with the African Union introduced a biennial intra-Africa trade fair, which Afreximbank had managed to host successfully.
He said the two fairs had attracted an aggregate of about 40,000 visitors and US$75 billion in trade deals.
Oramah pointed out that with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat joining the partnership following its establishment, the intra-africa trade fair was now branded AfCFTA marketplace, becoming the largest gathering of African businesses and traders.
He said they had also integrated regional transit guarantee scheme to ease the movement of goods across the 110 borders.
“Under the scheme, goods can move across multiple African borders under one transit bond, significantly reducing border delays and transit costs.
“Currently operational in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)and supported by a US$300 million Guarantee limit by Afreximbank, we expect the scheme to go continent-wide in due course, with the global limits expanded to a billion dollar,” Oramah said.
He named some of the initiatives as the fund for Export Development on Africa (FEDA), an impact equity fund created to provide long term funding for export manufacturing, intra-African trade and value added services .
Oramah said the Afreximbank customer due diligence repository platform was created to deal with the challenges of compliance.
He also listed the Africa Credit Opportunity Fund (ACOC), a credit fund that supports trade growth in Africa through investing in credit instruments.
Oramah said the African Medical Centre of Excellence was setup to provide world- class healthcare services across the continent, to mention a few initiatives.
He paid tribute to the forefathers for their contribution to the realisation of the the Afreximbank.
“Although we celebrate 30 years today, the journey to the next 30 years will require that we win the battle against those who are doing everything to weaken African multilateral institutions.
“We may say no to them and ensure we do not willing tools in destroying what Africa’s pioneer leaders toiled to build,” Oramah said.
Speaking at the same event, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said Afreximbank was very committed to the development of the continent.
“The pillars of the six strategic plan currently under implementation, that is intra-African trade and AfCFTA implementation as well as industrialisation and export diversification. All these are aligned with the aims of the AfCFTA and the African Union agenda of 2063,” Akufo-Addo said.
He commended the bank for coming to Ghana’s aid during the economic crisis.
This year’s Afreximbank’s annual meetings is held under the theme “Delivering the Vision, Building Prosperity for Africans.”
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