African export-import bank (Afreximbank), a Pan-African multilateral financial institution, has opened its maiden Caribbean Community (CARICOM) office in Barbados aimed at expanding Africa-Caribbean trade and investment relations.
In December 2022, the board of Afreximbank approved US$1.5 billion funding to enable member states of the Caribbean community that had ratified the partnership agreement with Afreximbank to tap into the bank’s various financial instruments.
As of July 2023, 11 out of the 15 CARICOM member states had signed the partnership with Afreximbank.
The financing will be targeted at supporting critical economic sectors aimed at boosting the development of trade-enabling infrastructure, as well as enhancing trade and investments between Africa and the CARICOM member states while providing support to small and medium enterprises. The bank has also committed to increase the credit limit to US$3 billion.
Benefits
The Afreximbank CARICOM Office will support the implementation of the partnership agreement between Afreximbank and CARICOM member states aimed at expanding trade between the two regions. This move cements Afreximbank’s efforts to promote and develop trade between Africa and the Caribbean, in line with its Diaspora Strategy and the African Union’s designation of the African Diaspora as Africa’s sixth region.
Speaking at the event, Benedict Oramah, president and chairman of the board of Afreximbank, said that the establishment of the Afreximbank CARICOM office remains critical to facilitating operations of the bank in the Caribbean community.
He said it will bring Afreximbank’s products and initiatives closer to the business community and ensure that the bank rapidly ramps-up operations to promote stronger relations with the governments in the region toward the pursuit of mutually identified priorities.