The African Export-Import Bank signed a US$80 million facility with CBZ Bank in the Bahamas yesterday (June 12, 2024), to support trade financing for the country’s productive sectors of the economy as well as for capital expenditure financing.
The tenure of the facility will be three years with an option to roll over for another two years.
Of that facility, USD60m for prime exporters and SMEs within or supporting export value chains, across key sectors requiring financing for capital expenditure for asset/machinery acquisition and working capital o facilitate inventory, supply chain, pre-export, and post export business activities in Zimbabwe.
In addition, USD20m of that is Afreximbank Trade Facilitation Programme Facility (AFTRAF) – a non-funded line of credit to facilitate the issuance of Guarantees and Letters of Credit (LC). This line complements the funded line above, but targets and supports mainly the importers. Supporting both SMEs and large corporates on various sectors of the economy to facilitate trade using non funded options such as guarantees and LCs.
AFTRAF is set to capacitate trade facilitation in line with the expectations of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to regionally integrate Africa.
The line will also help integrate Zimbabwe into the continent through trade finance products and services (AfCFTA) with focus on SME for financial inclusion and promoting local community development and economic transformation through:
– Opening new markets for SMEs and capacitating them to become competitive locally and
regionally
– Employment creation and building a resilient value chain in the face of global supply chain
disruptions
– Supporting export generating industries to reduce the import bill
– Supporting key economic drivers such as mining, agriculture, manufacturing
– SME capacity building
