Afreximbank boss confirms plan to set up regional office in Caribbean

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is working with governments of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) in a bid to set up a Caribbean Exim bank. President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Benedict Oramah, announced the development on Thursday September 1, during the official opening of the Africaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2022) in Bridgetown, Barbados. The bank committed to an initial $700 million envelope of facilitating investment projects upon establishing a regional office. According to Oramah, there has been tremendous progress in accelerating the membership of CARICOM nations in Afreximbank and that signature of a participant agreement would enable Afreximbank to operate in the CARICOM region and deliver concretely on the new vision. “Once these arrangements are concluded and visible, we will also open an office here in the Caribbean. And if we do agree, the bank will work with governments of the CARICOM to set up a Caribbean Exim Bank as an Afreximbank subsidiary or affiliate,” he said, adding that Afreximbank “envisages committing an investment of US$700 million in the Caribbean as soon as a regional office is opened.” “We stand at the cusp of history to open a well of opportunities for Africa and the Caribbean and to leverage our individual and collective strengths towards the attainment of our shared prosperity,” Professor Oramah said. “The vision is clear. However, we must therefore be focused while recognising that there are so many hurdles to cross,” he added. For Carla Barnett, Secretary General of CARICOM, the development comes at a time trade volume between both continents is ‘negligible.’ Barnett told The New Times that in 2018, total CARICOM exports to the world amounted to $18.6 million, while total exports to Africa amounted to $815 million, basically 4.4 percent. In the same year, she added, imports stood at $33 billion with Africa taking a portion of 1.8 percent. “Africa therefore accounted for approximately only 2 percent of our total trade. This trade declined sharply through 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and started to trend back up in 2021 amounting to $538 million.” Currently, the top exports to Africa include, anhydrous ammonia, alumina, oil drilling tubing material, sauces and condiments, and frozen orange juice. Plan long overdue “The journey might have tarried but we have now taken the most momentous first steps - we have begun the process of knocking down the artificial barriers that have for centuries programmed us as different people,” asserted Oramah. He noted that their plan is to have actionable proposals on how to open air and sea links between the Caribbean and Africa, to leave with concrete plans to open banking and payment rails, see joint ventures for industrial projects, deepen commercial collaboration in the creative and commercial space and collectively protect intellectual properties to share knowledge and invest in climate adaptation projects. “We must be proud that this is a reunion arising out of a felt need, underpinned by a solid economic, cultural, historical rationale,” added Professor Oramah. Hosted under the theme ‘One people, one destiny, uniting and reimagining our future,’ the forum is organised by Barbados and Afreximbank, in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) among others.

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Afreximbank boss confirms plan to set up regional office in Caribbean