Keypoints:
- Financing ceiling increased from $3bn to $5bn
- Over $750m disbursed, $2bn pipeline underway
- Focus on infrastructure, value addition, regional trade
THE African Export-Import Bank has announced a major expansion of its financial engagement with the Caribbean Community, increasing its regional financing ceiling to $5bn over the next three to four years.
The commitment was unveiled at the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis, marking a significant strengthening of economic ties between Africa and the Caribbean.
Scaling up Africa–Caribbean partnership
The new $5bn envelope represents a decisive step up from the previous $3bn limit. It builds on more than $750m already disbursed across Caribbean economies and a transaction pipeline exceeding $2bn currently under execution. The expansion signals Afreximbank’s intention to anchor long-term structural transformation across the region through targeted investment and trade facilitation.
Addressing regional leaders on February 25, Afreximbank President Dr George Elombi said the bank would ‘increase the global limit to this region from the current $3bn to $5bn, with the hope of achieving full utilisation over the next three to four years’.
The announcement aligned with the summit theme, Beyond Words: Action Today for a Thriving, Sustainable CARICOM, underscoring the bloc’s push to convert policy ambitions into measurable economic outcomes.
Driving value addition and jobs
Dr Elombi outlined a ten-year vision focused on reshaping Caribbean economies to prioritise value addition in agriculture and natural resources. Rather than exporting raw commodities, the bank intends to support domestic processing, industrial platforms and supply-chain development.
‘Our vision for the next decade is to change the structure of our economies,’ he said, adding that investments would aim to retain more value locally, generate employment, strengthen government revenues and improve livelihoods.
Planned interventions include healthcare facility development in Barbados, Guyana and Grenada; tourism projects in Barbados, Grenada, the Bahamas, and Antigua and Barbuda; and agro-processing and logistics facilities in Barbados, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Kitts and Nevis.
Infrastructure financing will also target power generation and distribution, road projects, conference facilities and trade centres in Grenada, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Suriname.
Strengthening banks and SMEs
Beyond sovereign-backed projects, Afreximbank is expanding financing support to commercial banks in Suriname, St Lucia, Grenada and Dominica. This includes SME-focused on-lending facilities through regional development banks to improve credit access for small businesses.
The lender is also promoting local content participation in natural resource-rich economies, enabling local entrepreneurs to capture greater value within extractive and related industries.
Improving connectivity remains a priority. Afreximbank is working on a framework to enhance sea and air interconnectivity across the Caribbean, with the goal of reducing logistical bottlenecks and boosting the movement of people, goods and investment.
In the cultural sector, the bank plans to expand its Creative Africa Nexus programme to support financing, capacity building and trade in creative goods and services between Africa and the Caribbean, deepening diaspora commercial links.
Backing regional strategy and payments reform
Following consultations with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Afreximbank agreed to support a development strategy aimed at doubling the size of the Eastern Caribbean economy within a decade. Priority investments will focus on infrastructure, energy systems, agricultural production and industrial processing.
Dr Elombi also welcomed the decision of CARICOM central bank governors to proceed with a regional payment and settlement platform modelled on Africa’s Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, pioneered by Afreximbank in 2022. The Caribbean system is expected to enable low-cost, real-time cross-border payments in local currencies, reducing reliance on external hard currencies and strengthening intra-regional trade.
Expanding institutional footprint
Afreximbank reaffirmed its commitment to developing an African Trade Centre in Bridgetown, Barbados, consolidating its presence in the Caribbean. It is also advancing efforts to establish a Caribbean Eximbank, envisioned as an institution capable of financing transformative and higher-risk investments necessary for structural change.
The bank is already collaborating with African private sector entities including Access Bank, Oando and ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms to facilitate their expansion into Caribbean markets. ARISE is exploring the establishment of special economic zones in several countries.
St Kitts and Nevis is set to host the fifth Africa-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum later this year, bringing together policymakers, investors and businesses from across the Global Africa community. The forum will feature deal signings, business matchmaking sessions and cultural showcases.
For CARICOM member states confronting climate vulnerability, fiscal pressures and infrastructure gaps, the expanded $5bn commitment offers access to long-term development capital. For Afreximbank, it reinforces a strategic South–South partnership aimed at deepening economic integration between Africa and the Caribbean.
As the February 24–27 summit concluded, leaders expressed optimism that the enhanced financing package would translate into tangible economic transformation — provided implementation matches ambition.
