African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) president Benedict Oramah has said the construction of the regional offices in Harare will commence by the end of year as the institution strengthens its footprints in Southern Africa.
By Fidelity Mhlanga in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Zimbabwean government gave the bank land last year for the development of the project.
Addressing journalists at the bank’s 24th annual general meeting (AGM), Orama said the Harare office, on a 1,2 hectare plot, would act as Southern African hub that will consist of trade facilitation offices, hotels among other amenities.
“The President [Robert Mugabe] gave us a large piece of land to develop offices for the Southern African branch as part of our efforts to promote knowledge of the continent especially on trade information,” Oramah said at the Press conference.
“Our plan is that regional offices will be branded as Afreximbank African trade centres. So, the one in Harare will come as Africa’s trade centre. Now what that means is that it helps us it will have such features as such as facilities such as hotels. It will have state-of-the-art trade information facilities and conferencing facilities, apart from offices. So that discussion in-as-far-as this is concerned are going on.”
Oramah could, however, not divulge how much the project would cost.
“The plans are that we should be ready to start the construct before the end of this year or early next year. So that’s what is going on actively I don’t know the [cost] estimates there are studies that are being conducted,” Orama said.
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The AGM is being held as a catalyst for industrialising Africa from June 28 to July 1.
Zimbabwe is one of the founding members of Afreximbank and sits on the board.
Afreximbank has offered lines of credit to Zimbabwe which run into billions of dollars.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya told NewsDay on the sidelines of the AGM that the country was currently enjoying the bank’s facilities of about $800 million.
“The current facilities Zimbabwe is enjoying now is in excess of $800 million. But the country has been given facilities in excess of billions. Some of them has been in operation since 15 years ago and definitely even before dollarisation. Some of them has been repaid and some are still running and others has been drawn down many times,” he said.
Some of the deals between government and Afreximbank include a $150 million gold finance facility.
Last month the Cairo-headquartered bank extended by two years a $200 million facility released to RBZ in 2015 to finance the interbank market. The trade debt-backed securities facility, operates on the lines of the lender of last resort at the bank for local banks.
Afreximbank also helped with a $819 million bridge facility for external arrears clearance to the African Development Bank ($601 million) and the World Bank’s International Development Association ($218 million).
