The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private sector (ICD) signed a line of financing agreements for a $100-million facility. This is Afreximbank’s first ever line of financing agreements with ICD.

“The proposed financing facility is a token of a good partnership between ICD and Afreximbank, with the purpose of supporting private sector businesses with a Shariah-compliant facility structure in our common African member countries,” said Khaled Al Aboodi, CEO of ICD.

The $100-million line of financing facility will be utilized by Afreximbank to provide Shariah-compliant financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in its member countries in Africa. Afreximbank has a solid pipeline of projects in the industrial, communication, technology, healthcare, construction and agricultural sectors that would be financed by the ICD Line of financing.

“This facility will give a boost to our effort to implement our current strategy which prioritizes intra-African trade, intra –African investments and export manufacturing of the labour intensive type. It will also promote our knowledge in Islamic finance and provide us with additional manoeuvring capacity in terms of product offerings to our clients,” said Amr Kamel, Executive Vice President at Afreximbank.

The key economic and financial developmental impact will be, but not limited to developing the private sector, especially SMEs, to help expand the real economic growth based on value creation, and promoting Islamic finance based on the pipeline of Afreximbank projects. The line of finance facility is also expected to have an impact on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with ICD’s strategic objectives.

“We are delighted that ICD has chosen to partner with us in the pursuit of Africa’s trade development. This collaboration will contribute to, the objective of fostering sustainable economic growth in the member countries of our two institutions, leading to job creations, contribution to export and Islamic finance development, among others,” Kamel added.

What you didn’t know about ICD

• The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) is a multilateral organization and a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group.
• The mandate of ICD is to support economic development and promote the development of the private sector in its member countries through providing financing facilities and/or investments, which are in accordance with the principles of Shari’ah.
• ICD also provides advice to governments and private organizations to encourage the establishment, expansion and odernization of private enterprises.
• ICD is rated AA/F1+ by Fitch and Aa3/P1 by Moody’s.

What you didn’t know about Afreximbank

• Afreximbank is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting African trade.
• It was established under two basic constitutive instruments which are the agreement signed by the member states and multilateral organisations, which gives the bank the status of an international multilateral organization and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations.
• The bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors.
• Afreximbank commenced operations on 30 September 1994, following the signature of a headquarters agreement with the host government in August 1994.
• Since 1994, it has approved more than 51 billion dollars in credit facilities for African businesses, including about 10.3 billion dollars in 2016.
• Afreximbank has total assets of 9.4 billion dollars as at April 30, 2016.
• The Bank is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch).
• The bank is based in Cairo, Egypt.
• Countries currently on the list of Afreximbank participating and shareholding states include Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, and Lesotho. Others are Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.