Lusaka, 8 June 2015 – The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is negotiating to provide a financing facility to enable the Development Bank of Zambia boost its capacity for financing small enterprises and entrepreneurs in the country, Jean-Louis Ekra, President of the Bank, has said.
Speaking today in Lusaka when he led a delegation of the Bank’s Board of Directors on a courtesy visit to Vice-President Inonge Wina of Zambia, Mr. Ekra said that the Bank was also working to revive and enhance the facility it had used to provide financing to support Zambia’s mining industry in order to ensure an enhanced supply chain.
He stated that Afreximbank was focused on adding value to Africa’s products as it was through such value addition that jobs would be created and increased revenue generated for governments.
Earlier, Vice-President Wina urged Afreximbank to enhance its financing directed at industries which engaged in value addition as a way to increase benefits from Africa’s trade.
She also said that Afreximbank should focus on transactions that promoted entrepreneurship, noting that such transactions brought enhanced benefits to women.
The Vice-President commended Afreximbank for its support to Zambia which had included credit facilities granted to the country’s mines and support to Greenbelt Fertilizers Limited for warehouse construction.
Also speaking, Dr. Denny Kalyalya, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, stressed the importance of collaboration between Afreximbank and Zambia as part of efforts to promote trade.
The Afreximbank team is in Lusaka for the Bank’s 22nd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and related activities which will run from 10 to 13 June.
The delegation included Afreximbank’s three Executive Vice Presidents and eight members of the Bank’s Board of Directors.
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