The China Development Bank (CDB) and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have signed an agreement to provide a $500 million facility to Afreximbank for the purposes of supporting trade enabling infrastructure projects in Africa.
The facility carries a 10-year tenor.
According to the terms of agreement, the facility will also be used to enable the African trade finance bank support trade finance intermediaries to provide medium to long term financing for sub-projects in various sectors, including energy, telecommunication, transportation, agriculture, medical sector, industrial park or any related trade finance transactions.
The Vice Chairman and President of CDB, Zheng Zhijie Liu, and President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, signed the facility pact on behalf of the two institutions during a ceremony held on the sidelines of the “4th Investing in Africa Forum,” concluded recently in Changsha.
According to Afreximbank boss, the facility strengthens further the bank’s capacity to realise its mandate and makes it possible for it and CDB to achieve important development outcomes in Africa.
He said: “We are actively seeking to drive Africa’s development by working with partners to support employment creation, increased economic activities, and increased tax earnings for governments arising from increased commercial activities resulting in increased earnings and profitability.”
He explained further that the facility would contribute to the promotion of South-South trade, particularly between China and Africa, while providing long-term funding which Afreximbank would transfer to its clients.
In his remarks, Zhijie said that as a development finance institution of the Chinese government, CDB had always promoted China-Africa cooperation as the focus of its international business.
The CDB’s President disclosed that since 2006 the bank had provided more than $50 billion for nearly 500 projects in 43 countries, adding that those funds have been used to support a large number of key projects in infrastructure, energy and minerals, telecommunications, agriculture, among others.
