Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, has been elected Chairman of the board of Africa Export Import Bank (Afreximbank).
Adeosun was elected chairman yesterday in Abuja at the bank’s Annual General Meeting declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari. She will chair the bank for one year.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the AGM, Buhari noted that Africa’s journey to prosperity “can only be achieved by supporting inclusive and sustainable projects. We must therefore continue to support Afreximbank to deliver on this mandate.”
The president spoke on the much anticipated Nigeria’s signing of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), stating that his administration will work towards a fair trade agreement with the rest of the continent.
According to Buhari, “significant progress has been made in these consultations. The team has met key stakeholders across our six geo-political zones. The responses have been diverse as would be expected. However, one clear message has emerged, which is that any trade agreement must be both ‘free’’ and ‘fair’. This fairness is achievable and we will work towards it.”
The highlight of the day’s activities was the combined signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Afreximbank and Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BoI) and Dangote group to finance Dangote’s refinery, valued at $750 million and $650 million respectively.
Addressing the gathering, Afreximbank President, Dr. Benedict Oramah, disclosed that Afreximbank has created a specialised institution, a fully owned subsidiary called the ‘’Fund for Africa’s Export Development” (FUNFED)”.
The objective of the fund he said “is to contribute towards expanding the share of manufactured and service exports in Africa’s total exports by attracting appropriate FDI flows into those dynamic sectors.”
Afreximbank’s initial investment commitment in the fund amounts to US$100 million, which is expected to attract additional investments to bring funds under management to US$1 billion in the near term.
Speaking on the bank’s financial performance for the year end, 2017, Oramah stated that “revenues grew strongly by 25 percent to US$645 million, driven by healthy interest income on average assets of about US$14 billion, of which about 70% were loans and advances.”
Net income as a result rose by 34 percent to reach a new record high of US$220 million.
Based on the very good performance, the Board of Afreximbank recommended a dividend payment amounting to a dividend yield of 5% fully paid shares.