Afreximbank Disburses $500m for local finance fund to local exporters

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) had disclosed that out of the $1 billion Nigeria-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (NATIPP) financing fund, it has allocated $500 million to support local manufacturers and exporters to take advantage of opportunities offered by the AfCFTA.

The Managing Director, Intra-African Trade Initiative of the African Export-Import Bank, Ms Kanayo Awani, who made this known in Lagos said the facility is aimed at promoting and expanding trade and investments between Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

In an explanation, Awani said that the stimulation fund-$500 million is designed for Nigerian manufacturers and exporters to boost intra-African trade and supports their operations through financing, enabling market access, technical assistance, trade information and advisory services, twinning services and other forms of support to make Nigerian manufactured goods competitive within the continent.

According to her, the bank approved the $1 billion NATIPP financing facility,  being done in collaboration with the Nigeria-Export Promotion Council aimed at ensuring that the country’s manufacturers and exporters do not lack credit facility when AfCFTA comes into play fully, since all eyes will be on Nigerian market to show its dominance in the continent’s trade.

The Afreximbank’s head of Intra-African Trade Initiative stated that, it is traders that make markets, adding that it is estimated that $40-$60 billion of intra-African trade is conducted by informal traders. “The informal traders have arisen to occupy the space created by the absence of formal trading companies that would have had the greatest positive impact on manufacturing as seen in South East Asia. It is export trading companies, such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Samsung and others that helped South East Asian economies export success, by opening markets, creating brands, providing feedback to manufacturers for product improvement and facilitating access to financing.