President
Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria (7th left), with
Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah (6th left)
in group photo with members of the delegation and officials during
the visit to the Nigerian President in Abuja.
The
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved financing amounting
to $17 billion for Nigerian entities between its commencement of
operations in 1994 and last December, Bank
President Dr. Benedict Oramah has said.
Dr.
Oramah, who was speaking in
Abuja on Thursday when
he led an Afreximbank delegation on a visit to PresidentMuhammadu
Buhari of Nigeria, said that the Bank’s facilities had made major
impact on critical sectors of the Nigerian economy and that the Bank
had loans outstanding of about $3.5 billion in Nigeria as at 31
December 2017.
He
identified the sectors benefiting from the Bank’s facilities to
include financial institutions, transport, hospitality,
manufacturing, agro-allied, oil and gas, power, and
telecommunications.
Dr.
Oramah said that Afreximbank’s support to Nigeria had included
provision of liquidity and trade finance lines of more than $800
million during the banking consolidation when many international
banks cut credit lines to the country and the provision of $1.8
billion to support the economy during the recent oil price shock in
2015-2016.
He
enumerated that the Bank’s current initiatives in Nigeria to
include the development of testing and inspection centres across the
country in collaboration with the Standards Organization of Nigeria;
establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Tertiary
Healthcare/Medical Park; potential participation in the Nigeria SEZ
Investment Company Ltd being promoted by the government; support for
industrial projects through loans to strategic banks; arrangement and
disbursal of $750 million to the Bank of Industry in June; provision
of trade and letter of credit lines to all Nigerian banks, in close
coordination with Central Bank of Nigeria, in order to ensure access
to trade finance; and development of an Afreximbank Africa Trade
Centre in Abuja.
Dr.
Oramah added that the Bank was willing to work with the government to
arrange financing of up to $1 billion to support the
governments investments in
trade enabling infrastructure.
He
invited President Buhari and the Nigerian government to attend the
Afreximbank Annual Meetings scheduled to take place in Abuja from 11
to 14 July.
Dr.
Oramah also informed President Buhari that Afreximbank was organising
the Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo from 11 to 17 December to
promote trade among African countries.
The
trade fair, being promoted in collaboration with the African Union
and the Egyptian government, will be the continent’s single largest
trade fair and the first of its kind. It will feature a seven-day
trade show where Nigerian businesses could join others to showcase
their capital goods and service offerings to a large market,
including private sector corporates and government institutions from
up to 55 African countries.
Responding, President
Buhari thanked Dr. Oramah for the visit and commended Afreximbank for
its support to the Nigerian economy as well as its work in promoting
African trade.
He
urged the Bank provide more support to Nigeria’s agriculture sector
as a way of boosting jobs and facilitating trade.
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