Afreximbank President addresses CARICOM Summit, saying Africa and the Caribbean are ready to make the global capitalism system work for them.
Bahamas, February 21, 2023 — Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), stated that the people of Africa and the Caribbean are ready to turn the global capitalist system, which was created on the sweat and blood of African slaves, to their advantage.
Speaking to Caribbean leaders at the 44th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Nassau, The Bahamas, Prof. Oramah lamented that “for so many decades, the global capitalist economy, built on the sweat and blood of African slaves, has remained an unbearable burden on the shoulders of Africans; we are now poised to make it work for us.
“Afreximbank is proud to be serving as a platform from which the power of this new direction is being unleashed,” he went on to say. “It is capital, owned, controlled and deployed by us, and not by others, that has the best chance of turning the iniquities of that sad history into an asset for a fresh new beginning of shared prosperity.”
He described the first Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF), co-hosted by Afreximbank, the African Union Commission, the Caricom Secretariat, and the Barbados Government in September, as a watershed moment in the journey towards Afro-Caribbean economic cooperation, noting that it saw the signing of the Partnership Agreement between Afreximbank and CARICOM States.
“Since then, nine CARICOM member states have signed the Agreement, which has now come into force,” he went on to say. Afreximbank provided Africa and CARICOM with “a financially-resourced platform for a credible pursuit of our collective aspirations to exploit our markets for our own good and in our own way” through that Agreement, which is similar to the Agreement for the Establishment of Afreximbank signed by African States.
Prof. Oramah announced that, in just under six months since the Partnership Agreement was opened for signature, Afreximbank had put in motion arrangements to establish a Caribbean Regional Office to drive its interventions across the CARICOM States, and the Bank’s Board of Directors had approved a limit of 1.5 billion US dollars for current signatories of the Participation Agreement, with the ceiling likely to increase to 3 billion US dollars after all CARICOM nations participate.
The President stated that the “Afreximbank Group today operates as a trade and project finance supermarket, offering something for everyone engaged in African trade and project development.” The Bank has disbursed more over 90 billion US dollars in total since its founding. According to Prof. Oramah, the Bank’s biggest effects have occurred during times of crisis. Among these were the commodities crises of 2015 and 2016, during which it introduced the Countercyclical Trade Liquidity Facility (COTRALF), an emergency intervention program that allowed recipient banks in Africa to receive around $10 billion in US currency. nations to respond to disruptions in commodities prices in a planned and coordinated way. Additionally, in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it established the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA), through which, by the end of 2021, it will have disbursed approximately $8 billion in US dollars. This will prevent significant trade debt payment defaults and allow African economies to obtain COVID-19 containment supplies, such as test kits, personal protective equipment, and medications.
“After the COVID-19 vaccines were delivered, the Bank provided financing and an Advance Procurement Commitment Guarantee totaling two billion US dollars to assist the African Union and CARICOM countries in their joint vaccine procurement,” he said. That was the first time that Africa as a whole responded to an emergency with such force, and it was also the first time that the Caribbean and Africa showed that they could be more powerful when working together.
Proud of Afreximbank’s pioneering role in funding intra-African trade and aiding in the execution of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Prof. Oramah stated that the Bank disbursed a total of 20 billion US dollars in support of intra-African trade in the five years leading up to 2021, and that the amount is expected to double to 40 billion US dollars in the five years leading up to 2026.
Proud of Afreximbank’s pioneering role in funding intra-African trade and aiding in the execution of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Prof. Oramah stated that the Bank disbursed a total of 20 billion US dollars in support of intra-African trade in the five years leading up to 2021, and that the amount is expected to double to 40 billion US dollars in the five years leading up to 2026.
“The Afreximbank subsidiary, FEDA, is the Fund Manager of that Fund, which targets a size of 8–10 billion US dollars, of which Afreximbank has committed an amount of 1 billion US dollars to catalyze activities,” he said. “Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and under the mandate of the African Union, the Bank has established the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, with the goal, among others, of supporting AfCFTA State Parties to adjust in an orderly manner to the AfCFTA-induced tariff removals and to support the companies to compete in the new trading regime,” he said.
He also told the leaders of the Caribbean that the Third Intra-African Trade Fair would be held in November in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, and invited them and their nations to attend. He also mentioned that an Africa Diaspora Day would be held during that event, which was being organized by Afreximbank, the African Union, the AfCFTA Secretariat, and other partners.
The President further stated that within a few months of ACTIF’s convening, Afreximbank organized three missions to several CARICOM member nations, bringing with it prominent African enterprises, financiers, and contractors. These missions yielded possible investments, backed by Afreximbank, in the areas of fish processing, ports and railways, manufacturing, roads and bridges, power, agriculture, and other sectors.
Prof. Oramah congratulated the leaders of the Caribbean on their goal to create the Caribbean Exim Bank and said that Afreximbank was prepared to help the CARICOM Secretariat with the studies that would be carried out in order to establish the bank.
The heads of state praised Afreximbank’s assistance in helping CARICOM member states obtain vital COVID-19 vaccine supplies through the African Medical Supplies Platform in a press release issued following the summit. They also welcomed the bank’s offer to fund a feasibility study regarding the creation of the Caribbean Exim Bank.
Additionally, they urged the CARICOM member nations who had not yet ratified or signed the Partnership Agreement with Afreximbank to do so right now.
President Oramah’s speech was a significant milestone in the effort to strengthen ties between Africa and the Caribbean and was the first time an Afreximbank President has addressed a gathering of CARICOM Heads of State and Government.
A group of African business executives accompanied President Oramah to the summit, taking advantage of the chance to establish commercial and investment ties.
