During the Intra-African Trade Fair 2023 (IATF), Nigeria High-Level Business Roadshow in Lagos, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, the Executive Vice President of Afreximbank, announced the bank’s ambitious plan to boost its financing of intra-African trade to $40 billion by 2026. This will build on their successful achievement of $20 billion in 2021.
The IATF 2023, taking place from November 9 to November 15 in Egypt, is a collaborative effort between Afreximbank, the African Union Commission, and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. It aims to create an integrated African market, encompassing over 1.3 billion people with a GDP exceeding $3.5 trillion, established under the AfCFTA.
Awani emphasized Afreximbank’s partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat to establish an Adjustment Fund, which will offer financing, technical assistance, grants, and compensation funding to AfCFTA state parties and private enterprises. Afreximbank has already allocated $1 billion and a $10 million grant to support this initiative.
Afreximbank is also collaborating with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the African Union to implement the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System (PAPSS), designed to facilitate trade transactions in local currencies, addressing currency inconvertibility and foreign exchange shortages that have hindered intra-African trade.
Awani highlighted Afreximbank’s commitment to digitalization through the African Trade and its partnership with the International Trade Centre to train African companies, including SMEs, on how to export under the AfCFTA.
