ITFC, Afreximbank tie up to boost African trade

Emirates Business

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a multilateral financial institution established by African governments and institutional investors, have signed a $100-million agreement and a EUR 50-million Murabaha agreement with the aim of facilitating and financing exports amongst African countries and between Africa and the rest of the world.
The agreements were signed by Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, the CEO of ITFC, and Amr Kamel, Executive Vice President, Business Development & Corporate Banking of Afreximbank, in a ceremony held during the Afro-Arab Trade Finance Forum, which was organised by the Arab Bank for Economic
Development in Africa (BADEA)
on 21 December 2017 in Dubai
under the Arab Africa Trade Bridges Program.
The facilities are intended to be used to support procurement from suppliers from the member and non-member countries, including local purchase, to promote trade across Africa. On this occasion, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO ITFC, stated: “This partnership comes as part of ITFC’s commitment to support the development of the African member countries’ exports as an important lever toward the sustainable growth, job creation and poverty reduction.”
He pointed out that this partnership will be utilised to finance African OIC member countries under the “Arab-Africa Trade Brid-ges” Program, a regional trade promotion program that aims at addressing some of the challenges faced in promoting trade between the two regions and supporting South-South cooperation.