eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
Funding deals signed between the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) and local financial institutions have all been disbursed and performing positively, an official with the regional lender has said.
In November last year, at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) held in Durban, South Africa, Afreximbank inkend deals worth more than US$78 million with three local banks, CBZ, ZB and CABS.
The funds were meant to support the energy and productive sectors of the economy.
The facilities agreed with the banks were meant to support the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), not only to import power but also enhance power generation.
Some of the funds were also meant to support the steel sector in Zimbabwe and to build infrastructure to support the economy.
The facility to CABS was US$40 million while the one for CBZ Holdings was valued at US$28 million and ZB Financial Holdings US$10 million.
Speaking on the sidelines of the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum held in Bridgetown Barbados, Denys Denya, executive vice president, finance, administration and banking services at the Afreximbank said the facilities were all “disbursed and performing”.
“All the transactions that we signed in Durban, have all been disbursed, they
are actually utilising those facilities as we speak.
“And so far they are all performing and we have no concerns as far as the financial institutions involved,” said Denya.
He said Afreximbank still has appetite to do business in Zimbabwe.
“We are still open for business in terms of the Zimbabwe financial institutions. We are still doing transactions in the mining sector. So we haven’t closed our appetite for Zimbabwe, we are still doing business.”
The Afreximbank has been very supportive of the Zimbabwe economy and in 2021 alone, the RBZ borrowed as much as US$1,8 billion from the regional lender.
Afreximbank is also partly funding the new Beitbridge Border Post to a combined US$297 million.
