Zimbabwean Companies Sign Deals Worth Over $188M With Afreximbank

Professor Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank and Chairman person of PAPSS Management Board
Professor Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank and Chairman person of PAPSS Management Board
Professor Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank and Chairman person of PAPSS Management Board,

Durban, South Africa – African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed financing agreements with four Zimbabwean entities for a total of $188.6 million.

The deals, concluded during the second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) currently taking place in Durban, were agreed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The trade fair opened on 15 November in Durban and runs until 21 November.

On Wednesday, Afreximbank signed with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission & Distribution Company (ZETDC) a $110.4 million Syndicated Term Loan Facility.

The funds will help ZETDC to improve revenue collection through smart meters and prepaid meters and thus pay off regional creditors’ accounts.

In addition, Afreximbank provided the Central African Building Society with a $40 million facility to support its participation in a syndicated facility aimed at improving the supply of electricity in Zimbabwe through the payment of legacy debt and the importation of prepaid meters.

The third transaction, which is a $28.2 million dual-tranche facility, was agreed with CBZ Bank to provide much needed offshore foreign currency in Zimbabwe.

The transaction will also help finance the import of raw materials for key industries, thereby creating jobs and, in some cases, facilitating export diversification.

ZB Bank has also signed a US$10 million term sheet that will enable its participation as one of the syndicated lenders in a facility for the energy sector in Zimbabwe.

By providing adequate financing for power generation and transmission infrastructure, the facility will help companies in Zimbabwe’s mining, manufacturing and industrial sectors to increase their capacity, thereby contributing to exports and GDP, with a knock-on effect on employment levels and foreign exchange generation.

Afreximbank signs MOU with African Risk Capacity Group to enhance resilience and disaster risk financing initiatives. 

  The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group signed also a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly enhance resilience and disaster risk financing initiatives that also impacts the trade and supply chain across the continent.

The purpose of this MOU is to enable joint member states to enhance disaster response and resiliency initiatives using available banking and insurance products suited for localized challenges.

The MoU’s primary intervention is to provide Food Emergency Contingent Financing Facility (FECONTRAF) to joint member countries that participate in African Risk Capacity’s sovereign/macro disaster risk transfer programme, national capacity building and food security policy development.

Prof Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, commented: “This new partnership with the African Risk Capacity Group will ensure we support member countries to be disaster aware, prepared and solutions oriented.

In collaboration with the ARC, we aim to improve capacity to better plan and respond to natural and man-made disasters that may hamper trade facilitation across the continent and make available the needed support to combat disasters when they strike.”

United Nations Assistant Secretary General (ASG) and Group Director General of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, said:  “The alignment of purpose between our two institutions for a food-secure and climate-resilient Africa is fundamental to this partnership.

Through providing holisitic solutions we will lessen the negative impacts of natural disasters on lives and livelihoods. Therefore, our collaboration will help strengthen countries’ response systems by promoting the availability, accessibility, and affordability of critical resources for anticipatory climate action.”

African Eye Report

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