Malawi Stock Exchange – listed FDH Bank has signed a $15 million agreement with Egypt-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to support local businesses in securing export markets and increasing trade.
Under the Africa Trade Exchange (Atex) financing, the facility is aimed at bolstering intra-Africa trade and increasing exports to the Caribbean markets for local small and medium enterprises.
FDH Bank Deputy Managing Director George Chitera and Afreximbank Executive Vice President for Global Trade Bank Haytham El Maayergi signed the pact on the sidelines of the 31st Afreximbank Annual General Meeting 2024 in Nassua, Bahamas.
In a statement issued yesterday, FDH Bank said provision of the facility assures Afreximbank’s commitment in facilitating and promoting trade in Africa.
In the statement, Chitera says FDH Bank is committed to supporting local businesses to have easy access to export markets.
“This development means that FDH Bank will be facilitating and supporting its clients more ably doing importation and exportation business with access to foreign currency,” he says in the statement.
In November last year, Afreximbank and FDH Bank plc also signed a ground-breaking Atex facility agreement valued at $10 million that is reshaping the landscape of procurement of strategic supplies for the economy.
The facility is aimed at enabling a pooled procurement of basic commodities among countries to ensure enhanced access to scarce supplies transparently.
It is a component of Afreximbank’s Africa Trade Gateway—a platform designed as a single window for providing critical services to support and promote African trade.
Over 150 local small and medium enterprises in export trade are earmarked to reap from the $10 million (about K17.5 billion) Atex facility of the pan-African bank.
Atex is an online platform developed by the Economic Commission for Africa and Afreximbank to enhance transparency and competitive access to critical supplies such as food, fertiliser and agricultural chemicals.
This year’s Afreximbank annual meeting saw over a thousand attendees including African/ Caribbean leaders and senior government officials, African and non- African policymakers, corporate and business leaders, bankers, entrepreneurs, academics and other thought leaders – with over 60 speakers.
Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra and extra- African trade.
