Afreximbank commits to ending raw material exports

Afreximbank commits to ending raw material exports

Story by Farai GwazeTHE African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is set to change Africa’s trade model by creating a new, high-impact financing window dedicated to stopping the export of raw commodities, the newly appointed Afreximbank president and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egypt based institution, Dr George Elombi has said.Dr Elombi was speaking after being sworn in as the fourth president of Afreximbank at an investiture ceremony held in Cairo, Egypt where he pledged a transformative vision centred on trade industrialisation, value addition, and intra-African integration, a major policy pivot aimed at boosting continental economic outlook.“We will end the export of raw materials. Afreximbank will create a new high-impact financing window specifically for projects that process raw minerals into semi-finished or finished goods. To our partners: if your proposals involve exporting raw gold, manganese, cotton, or cocoa, we will not fund them. The success of our value addition agenda depends on securing markets for our goods. African countries must open their borders to their own citizens,” Dr Elombi said.The strategic shift, Dr Elombi said, is designed to ensure African nations capture significantly more value from their natural resources, moving away from the traditional, less profitable model of primary commodity extraction and export.“Our goal is for global African resources, whether held by diaspora investors, sovereign wealth funds, or private businesses to work for Africa’s development. We will remain steadfast, confident, and united in fulfilling our mission, to build an Africa that trades with itself, adds value to its resources, and thrives on its own terms,” he said.On the need for economic self-determination, Dr Elombi said that a monitoring platform has been established to track the progress of the multi-billion-dollar agreements to ensure genuine continental economic development.“Africa created deals of US$48 billion, and we have created a platform to monitor how those deals were created. If we execute those deals carefully and we enhance Intra African Trade itself, then that for us as Africans would be a more significant development than the other form of trade which is based on export of our raw commodities,” Dr Elombi said.Over the past decade, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees have grown eightfold to $43.5 billion, making it one of the continent’s most powerful financial institutions. Revenues rose sevenfold to $3 2 billion, while net income reached $1 billion as of 2024, a 700% increase compared to ten years ago. This growth has been credited to strong shareholder support and capital generation, with equity rising from $1 billion in 2015 to $7 5 billion and callable capital from $450 million to $4 5 billion. Dr Elombi said Afreximbank’s shareholders have set a target to expand the bank’s balance sheet to $250 billion within ten years.Speaking on Dr Elombi’s appointment, Mutapa Investment Fund Chief Executive, Dr. John Mangudya expressed confidence in the new Afreximbank leadership, while acknowledging the role the bank has played in supporting Zimbabwe’s economy over the last three decades.“This is a very important milestone in the history of the bank. We have seen the transition with Dr Oramah, and now we are with Dr George Elombi with his investiture. We are very happy that at least Zimbabwe has benefited quite a lot during the tenure of the bank, which is 30 years of operations now. Dr Oramah has done a lot, and George, being the incoming president of the bank, has been there for the past 29 years. In fact, I joined with George Elombi at the same time in 1996 at Afreximbank. So we are quite happy as this is the time for Africa,” he said.

THE African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is set to change Africa’s trade model by creating a new, high-impact financing window dedicated to stopping the export of raw commodities, the newly appointed Afreximbank president and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egypt based institution, Dr George Elombi has said.

Source: ZBC News