Afreximbank’s CEO, Prof. Benedict Oramah, says the continental financial institution is ready to provide the required financial muscle for the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Aside from the enormous investments made to push the continent’s integration since the take-off of the AfCFTA, he indicates that the bank is committing to disburse an additional US$40billion in the next five years to support inter-regional trade.“It is the work we are doing to allow African EPC contractors to participate in the 40-60billion-dollar infrastructure spend that is going on in Africa,” he says in an interview with Single African Market.
In a discussion that centered around the success of the first year of the market since the commencement of trade, Mr. Oramah says he is hugely impressed with what has been achieved thus far and that the future looked even more promising.
According to him, considering all that’s been done so far with the payment systems in place and the financing that Afreximbank is providing, it will be surprising the boost given that will be given to intra-Africa trade.“We believe that with where we are with the negotiations, the instruments that have been put in place to facilitate trade, we are going to exceed expectations,” he says.
In a capital-cursed continent like Africa, having a trade agreement that will promote intra-African trade and investments can only work if it’s backed with a continental financial institution that can leverage the financing that would be needed to implement the kinds of things that this trade agreement will demand, he further states.According to Prof. Oramah, the financing architecture and the quest for continental integration which had been designed long ago are now coming together at the right time.
“That’s why you see Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat working closely together like twins; it’s by accident, it’s by design,” he stresses.
One year into the take-off of the single continental market, the Afreximbank boss says the outcomes are beyond expectation, especially in terms of the progress made with the number of signatures and speed of ratifications.He notes: “There has also been steady progress with negotiations on the annexes and protocols and we’ve also delivered on a transit guarantee scheme and also working on how to use digital platforms to integrate small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and women to trade.
These achievements are just within three years of the signing of the AfCFTA Agreement and it’s moved with the speed of lightning.”The Afreximbank boss further applauded the leadership of the continent for “taking the bull by the horn” to bring to reality the vision of an integrated Africa.
“Afreximbank, as an institution, and the AfCFTA Secretariat will do anything in our power to ensure a solid foundation for the smooth implementation of the agreement to bring confidence to our people and to achieve the Africa we want.”
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