Cairo, 01 February 2015 –The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) granted credit facilities totalling $577 million to the Egyptian trade sector between 2012 and 2014, Dr. Benedict Oramah, Executive Vice President of the Bank in charge of Business Development and Corporate Banking, has announced in Cairo.
Speaking when he led a delegation of the Bank to meet Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Trade, Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises of Egypt, Dr. Oramah said that the amount comprised lines of credit, country risk guarantees and forfaiting and that it included $230 million granted in 2014.
The Bank had also facilitated exports by Egyptian entities to some 15 African countries and was providing United States dollar liquidity to Egyptian banks for import financing, stated Dr. Oramah.
He announced that Afreximbank was currently considering an $800 million pipeline of deals from Egypt spread across major sectors of the economy, including $175 million in projects in the energy, hospitality and manufacturing sectors, $470 million in exports by Egyptian entities to six African countries and $150 million in line of credit facilities.
The Bank had designed a special product to provide liquidity to SMEs in Africa, continued Dr. Oramah, who added that the product would provide lines of credit to Egyptian factoring companies to purchase invoices of SMEs in the trading sector.
He further said that the Afreximbank was interested in working with Egypt to design and implement a $500 million trade finance programme aimed at enhancing the country’s trade with the rest of Africa.
Responding, Mr. Nour said that Egypt believed in working toward integration in Africa and that the presentation by Afreximbank was in line with the government’s strategy to take advantage of opportunities to grow trade with the rest of Africa.
He suggested that a forum be organised to make the Egyptian business community more aware of the opportunities available through Afreximbank.
Media Contact: Obi Emekekwue (oemekekwue@afreximbank.com; Tel. +202-2456-4238)
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About Afreximbank:
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors. Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organization, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, Afreximbank has approved almost $35 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $4.5 billion in 2014. Afreximbank is headquartered in Cairo. For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com