THE African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a $3bn Country Programme with Kenya to support viable trade and trade-related investments in the country’s private and public sectors. Afreximbank will provide financing using various instruments, such as loans, guarantee facilities, trade services, investment banking, and advisory services.
The signing ceremony in Nairobi on May 2 was attended by Kenyan President William Ruto, who witnessed the official signing of the memorandum of understanding between Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning, Professor Njuguna Ndungu, and Afreximbank’s President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Professor Benedict Oramah.
Kenya will be the first country to access Afreximbank’s recently introduced Climate Change Adaptation Facility as a component of the Country Programme. Under this facility, Kenya will receive a $800 million Kenya Climate Change Adaptation Facility (KCCAF), which will be used to develop 200 irrigation schemes under a public-private partnership framework.
The Country Programme will also support Kenya’s industrialisation and export-led development agenda by financing the development and operationalisation of Special Industrial Zones. The Bank will also support Kenya National Trading Corporation to become a fully-fledged Export Trading Company that will foster the growth of SMEs by providing them access to finance and national and regional markets.
Funds committed by Afreximbank under the Country Programme will be directed towards upgrading and developing modern infrastructure and facilities. The Bank will also expand its lines of credit and product offerings to Kenyan banks to support the local economy.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, President William Ruto expressed his gratitude, saying, ‘This programme is a step forward in our economic recovery agenda and will assist the government following shocks occasioned by the Covid-19 Pandemic as well as the global economic crisis.’
Afreximbank’s President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Professor Benedict Oramah, highlighted that the Country Programme is designed to build a strong infrastructure base, catalyze agriculture and industrial growth, and create a diversified, integrated, and resilient national economy that benefits all segments of society.
The Country Programme will also support the creative arts sector through Kenya’s youth empowerment programme, as well as stimulate regional and intra-African trade through capacity building of Kenyan enterprises to improve their ability to compete under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) framework.