The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) granted
credit facilities totaling $577 to the Egyptian trade sector between 2012 and
2014, Dr. Benedict Oramah, Executive Vice President of the Bank in charge of
Business Development and Corporate Banking, has announced in Cairo.
Speaking when he led a delegation of the Bank to meet
Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Trade, Industry and Small and Medium
Enterprises of Egypt, Dr. Oramah said that the amount comprised lines of
credit, country risk guarantees and forfaiting and that it included $230
million granted in 2014.
The Bank had also facilitated exports by Egyptian
entities to some 15 African countries and was providing United States dollar
liquidity to Egyptian banks for import financing, stated Dr. Oramah.
He announced that Afreximbank was currently
considering an $800 million pipeline of deals from Egypt spread across major
sectors of the economy, including $175 million in projects in the energy,
hospitality and manufacturing sectors, $470 million in exports by Egyptian
entities to six African countries and $150 million in line of credit facilities.
The Bank had designed a special product to provide
liquidity to SMEs in Africa, continued Dr. Oramah, who added that the product
would provide lines of credit to Egyptian factoring companies to purchase
invoices of SMEs in the trading sector.
He further said that the Afreximbank was interested in
working with Egypt to design and implement a $500 million trade finance
programme aimed at enhancing the country’s trade with the rest of Africa.
Responding, Mr. Nour said that Egypt believed in
working toward integration in Africa and that the presentation by Afreximbank
was in line with the government’s strategy to take advantage of opportunities
to grow trade with the rest of Africa.
He suggested that a forum be organised to make the
Egyptian business community more aware of the opportunities available through
Afreximbank.
Manal Mounir Hendy
Associate
External Communications
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