The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it has so far provided a total of 200 million dollars in loans to support various projects in Gabon.
A statement by the bank on Monday quoted Rene Awambeng, the bank’s Director of Client Relations, as announcing this at a business forum organised by Afreximbank in Libreville.
Awambeng said the amount included financing for the development of the Ngok Economic Zone, construction of a container port in Owendo and development of agricultural infrastructure for palm oil fields.
He said the interventions also included the promotion of local value addition in the agricultural and forestry sectors and increasing the country’s power production capacity to support industrial development.
“Others are the unlocking of the mining industry’s potentials, accelerating the country’s digitisation drive, developing the tourism, transport and logistics infrastructure, and providing support to increase access to finance for small and medium enterprises,” Awambeng said.
The director said the interventions were part of Afreximbank’s efforts to help counter the impact of the decline in global commodity prices.
He said that the one-day forum, attended by Madeleine Berre, the Gabonese Minister of Investments and Trade, was to further discuss the country’s priority projects and identify ways in which the bank could assist.
Awambeng also said the event was part of an awareness campaign by Afreximbank to enhance knowledge about its products and programmes in its member countries.
He added that the aim was to strengthen collaborative networks, gather insights about the needs of the business community and expand trade finance activities to member countries, including Nigeria.
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, it has approved more than 51 billion dollars in credit facilities for African businesses including about 10.3 billion dollars in 2016.
Afreximbank had total assets of $9.4 billion as at April 30, 2016 and is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch). The bank is headquartered in Cairo. (NAN)