The African Export-Import Bank, Afreximbank, is exploring opportunities to support the business community, the bank has said. The Bank is currently negotiating with Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) to offer a line of credit for trade finance.

This follows a visit to Rwanda in the course of last year by a team of experts from the Afreximbank to explore and identify possible areas of support for business growth.

In a recent interview with Business Times, Jean-Louis Ekra, President of Afreximbank said that while the business community in Rwanda is yet to benefit from his institution, the fact that Rwanda is a shareholder of the institution guarantees the business community to access services from the bank.

"We (Ekra and the Minister of Finance) agreed that we should do again another visit so that the Rwandan operators are more aware of the program and facilities that the bank can offer because up to now very few are aware and approaching the bank,” he said.

This was during the Annual recent meetings of the African Development Bank in Abidjan. Ekra also said the bank’s mission received a request for financing from petroleum dealers that is still under evaluation.

According to Ekra, the bank is focusing on supporting businesses on the Continent to diversify their economies and reduce dependency on traditional exports like coffee, cocoa and minerals.

"African economies should get away from exporting the usual commodities that have prevailed on the continent over the last years. Africa should start also producing finished products which can be
exported abroad,” he said.

The Bank’s offers a wide range of trade facilitation products  including lines of credit, direct financing ,remittance –backed facilities ,reimbursement guarantees , export development finance , loans
syndications and advisory services.

Headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, apart from Governments, its shareholders include African multilateral institutions, as well as African and non-African financial institutions and private investors.

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