Afreximbank launches $4 bln trade financing program over Ukraine events
KYIV. April 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The board of directors of Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved the launch of the Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Program for Africa (UKAFPA) amounting to $4 billion.
"UKAFPA is a response to an urgent call for emergency intervention by member states of the Bank. UKAFPA - compliant financing requests received from across Africa already exceeds $15 billion. There is some urgency to meet these requests to avoid catastrophic social conditions across Africa and reduce the risk of their morphing into political challenges," the bank said in a statement.
The bank said that, considering the importance of both Russia and Ukraine as sources of oil, gas, raw materials, and grains, the latest events have "wider repercussions on a global scale, including adversely affecting African economies, especially those that rely heavily on grain, fertilizer and fuel imports," it said.
The program's objectives include financing import re-order costs to help countries meet immediate import price increases pending domestic demand adjustments, financing oil and metal buy-back to release more free cash flow to meet other urgent needs, such as food and fertilizer imports, stabilizing export revenue, financing tourism revenue deficit, and others.
Afreximbank has previously financed similar emergency programs, including Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA), through which it disbursed over $7 billion in support of African economies amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Afreximbank said it looked forward to cooperating with partner banks and institutions to promote food security, ensure adequate fuel supplies, and avert fertilizer and agricultural input shortages amid renewed economic nationalism worldwide.
Afreximbank introduces itself as a pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. As a "stalwart supporter" of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which the African Union (AU) has adopted as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the AfCFTA implementation.
As of the end of 2020, the bank's aggregate assets and guarantees totaled $21.5 billion, and the assets of its shareholders $3.4 billion. The bank issued over $42 billion in loans from 2016 to 2020. Its current Moody's rating is Baa1 and Fitch's BBB-.
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