The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide a $600-million line of credit to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah signed the MOU on behalf of Afreximbank during a ceremony in Harare while Dr. John Mangudya, Governor of RBZ, signed for his institution.
According to the terms of the MOU, the line of credit will support RBZ in the financing of trade-related transactions and projects in Zimbabwe. The financing would be supported by Zimbabwe’s export proceeds, including gold and other mining exports.
The MOU states that the line of credit is expected to boost trade into and out of Zimbabwe and will promote the country’s economic development.
The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the 114th meeting of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, which ended in Harare yesterday.
Afreximbank is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors.
Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organization, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations.
Since 1994, it has approved more than $51 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $10.3 billion in 2016. Afreximbank had total assets of $11.7 billion as at 31 December 2016 and is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo.