The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has released its consolidated financial statements and its subsidiaries’ for the half year ended 30 June this year, which reflected that the Group’s total balance sheet assets grew by 8% from US$27.9 billion as of 31 December 2022 (FY-2022) to approximately US$30.1 billion.
A news report on the financial statements indicated that the growth was driven by the increase in loans and advances to customers, which grew by 13% to close the period at US$26 billion.
Similarly, the lender’s the liquidity position remained strong at US$3 billion, representing 11% of total assets and achieving a Liquidity Coverage ratio of 310% .
According to the report, due to increased volume of interest-earning assets, particularly loans and advances and higher interest rates, total interest income recorded a strong growth of 107.1% to reach $1.1 billion for the half-year (H1-2023) period compared to $540.8 million for the same period in 2022.
In addition, the group’s net interest income amounted to $663.6 million, up 76% from the prior year, mainly due to continuous effective management of interest expenses while the net interest margin as a result increased to 4.77%, compared to 3.47% last year.
A further analysis of the financial statements reflected that the Group’s shareholders’ funds rose by 7.63% to US$5.6 billion as of 30 June 2023 compared to FY-2022.
Commenting on the Group’s performance, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Finance, Administration and Banking Services, Mr. Denys Denya, said: “During the period in which the Bank celebrated its 30th Anniversary, we have delivered a strong set of results, driven largely by a focused execution of our mandate as a countercyclical lender which generated increased volume of interest-earning assets, particularly loans and advances and benefited from a rising interest rate environment.
“The Bank continued to make progress on its strategy implementation, carefully balancing the need to be profitable and sustainable, while maintaining sufficient liquidity, capital, and a quality portfolio of assets“, the banker added.
On the outlook for the second half of the year, he projected: “We began the second half of 2023 well and are confident that Afreximbank’s strong financial position will provide a solid base for the Group to continue assisting its clients and African countries in expanding trade and investments, meet trade finance obligations, boost production especially of food and export value added products, as well as alleviate supply chain constraints and enable the continent to adapt sustainably to the challenging effects of climate change.”
