President John Mahama has urged the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to further strengthen its trade finance support to the Ghanaian business sector, particularly in the areas of agro-processing and pharmaceuticals.
Speaking when Dr. Benedict Oramah, President designate of the Bank, paid him a courtesy call, President Mahama highlighted the increasingly important role of those sectors in the country’s economy; and also called on the Bank to increase its involvement in Ghana’s manufacturing, construction, renewable energy and other key sectors.
He commended Dr. Oramah on his appointment as the next President of the Bank and pledged Ghana’scontinued commitment to working with Afreximbank to achieve its objective of promoting intra and extra-African trade.
Earlier, Dr. Oramah announced that Afreximbank had approved financing totalling about US$2billion for the Ghanaian government, corporates and financial institutionssince 1993, with annual approvals increasing from US$6.5million in 1994 to US$280million in 2014.
“As at October 2014, Ghana was the sixth-largest beneficiary of the Bank’s funding programmes,” said Dr. Oramah, who noted that the support has been mainly directed toward the energy sector, the financial sector, the agro-processing and industrial development sectors, and to the promotion of higher local value-added in Ghana’s extractive industries.
The credit facilities provided by the Bank included a US$150million loan facility to the Volta River Authority to support capacity expansion and refurbishment activities, and a further US$300million facility under negotiation; US$70million to a Ghanaian company to enable it offer mining and engineering services to international mining companies; US$100million to the Bank of Ghana to address short-term liquidity challenges; and US$70million to two Ghanaian-owned cocoa processing companies, he said.
Dr. Oramah announced that Afreximbank is considering a framework to scale-up its intervention in the Ghanaian economy in recognition of the opportunities offered by the relatively stable socio-political and economic environment.
“The package will include foreign exchange liquidity support to facilitate essential imports and deal with the transitory challenges as well as term-funding for strategic sectors toward realisation of the country’s long-term development agenda,” he explained.
Dr. Oramah was accompanied on the visit by Kofi Adomakoh, Director of Afreximbank’s Project and Export Development Finance Department, and Joy Albright of the Legal Department.
B&FT
