Africa: Afreximbank Says Transformation of African Trade is Task for All African Financial Institutions

The transformation of trade in Africa is a task that all African financial institutions must collectively pursue as major stakeholders in the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in its quest to facilitate African trade, Amr Kamel, Afreximbank Executive Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Banking, said in Dar Es Salam on Tursday.

Speaking during a roadshow organized by Afreximbank for financial institutions to introduce the Afreximbank Trade Facilitation Programme (AFTRAF), Mr. Kamel, who was represented by Ademola Adeyinka, Consultant on Financial Institutions/Trade, said that Afreximbank was in a strong position to support African trade and African financial institutions and that it wanted African banks to see it as their partner of choice in international financing.

"We understand African trade better than any other institution," he said. "We were set up by African governments under a Charter that has been signed to by 50 countries, including Tanzania. We have a good credit rating that African financial institutions can leverage on and we have the ears of 50 African heads of state. That allows us to better understand the issues in each country, support the countries in finding solutions to trade finance challenges and resolve issues that may arise easier".

Mr. Kamel emphasized that Tanzania was a key market for Afreximbank and that the Bank would want to do more transactions in the country.

He explained that Afreximbank came up with AFTRAF in order to create opportunity for Africa to bridge the trade finance gap with the rest of the world, which had continued to grow. It was also to create the opportunity for African banks to enhance and complement existing trade finance lines with international financial institutions. Read More