African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the pan-African multilateral EXIM bank, announces $100 million financing to enable its Member States to procure COVID-19 related medical resources through the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP). The funding is available to African governments to acquire medical supplies through the AMSP in the form of pre-approved overdraft limits for each African government. This facility quickens access to critical COVID-19 containment and therapeutic supplies by bridging short term funding gaps that African states may be experiencing.
Launched in June, the AMSP was developed by the African Union’s Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Afreximbank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), under the leadership of the African Union Special Envoy for COVID-19 procurements, Mr. Strive Masiyiwa. The AMSP is operated by the technology firm Janngo. It was established to facilitate pooled and transparent procurement by African countries. Its services have now been made available to countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
A product of continent-wide collaboration, the AMSP aggregates medical supplies and serves as a unique interface for African governments and NGOs to easily coordinate sourcing. Afreximbank facilitates payments on the platform. The Bank also arranges letters of credit and payment guarantees, allowing participating governments and organizations to minimize the upfront cost of obtaining critical supplies.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said: “We are mindful of the challenges many African economies are facing as they work hard every day to contain the pandemic. With this $100 million overdraft facility, we are ensuring African states are able to rapidly access diagnostic kits and medical supplies at competitive prices from African suppliers and global markets.”
About Afreximbank:
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution with the mandate of financing and promoting intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank was established in October 1993 and owned by African governments, the African Development Bank and other African multilateral financial institutions as well as African and non-African public and private investors. The Bank was established under two constitutive documents, an Agreement signed by member states, which confers on the Bank the status of an international organization, and a Charter signed by all Shareholders, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that are supporting the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby sustaining economic expansion in Africa. At the end of 2019, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at USD$15.5 billion and its shareholders funds amounted to US$2.8 billion. Voted “African Bank of the Year” in 2019, the Bank disbursed more than US$31 billion between 2016 and 2019. Afreximbank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A-), Moody’s (Baa1) and Fitch (BBB-). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
