Afreximbank has set up a $4bn credit facilities program to help African businesses and economies manage the impacts arising from the Russia-Ukraine crisis that demand for financing.
The multilateral financial institution, said that its Board of Directors had approved the launch of this Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa (UKAFPA) at the end of March.
“Given the importance of both Russia and Ukraine as sources of crude oil and gas, raw materials and grains, the outbreak of the conflict has wider repercussions on a global scale, including adversely affecting African economies, especially those that rely heavily on grain, fertilizer and fuel imports,” it said in a statement.
The fund is set to extend to import cost adjustment, oil and metals buy-back financing, commodity export revenue stabilization as well as tourism revenue deficit financing.
“UKAFPA is a response to an urgent call for emergency intervention by member states of the Bank. UKAFPA , compliant financing requests received from across Africa already exceeds US$15 billion. There is some urgency to meet these requests to avoid catastrophic social conditions across Africa and reduce the risk of their morphing into political challenges,” the bank added.
Since its establishment, Afreximbank has built a track record and earned a reputation for introducing and implementing various emergency intervention programmes, with embedded strong risk mitigations to respond to various crises on a global scale and impacting Africa. With a recent example including the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) through which Afreximbank disbursed over US$7 billion in support of African economies in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am delighted that our Board has approved the introduction of the UKAFPA, once again demonstrating their responsiveness to the needs of African member states and their citizens. This initiative will contribute immensely to averting social anxiety and upheaval that may arise from looming food shortages and high costs of fertilizer and petroleum products,” Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank indicated.
