Afreximbank’s 23rd annual general meeting at the Savoy hotel |25 July 2016
Creating a better future for our people
Having examined the dynamics of intra-African trade and its implications for economic integration and structural transformation, decision-makers must have learned from the inspiring stories; stories of hope, determination and the willingness to change the status quo, to move forward with a common objective – that of creating a better tomorrow for our people.
Vice-President Danny Faure said this when officially opening the 23rd general meeting of shareholders of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on Saturday morning at the Savoy Resort & Spa, Beau Vallon.
The meeting started last Monday and those who took part attended numerous seminars and panel discussions based on the theme ‘Intra-African Trade and the Blue Economy as Catalysts for Economic Transformation’.
Chaired by Dr Denny Kalyalya, governor of the Bank of Zambia, the general meeting saw shareholders, including Seychelles Pension Fund and Nouvobanq who have just joined the family, deliberate on strategic issues and VP Faure noted that he is certain the outcomes of the seminars will be taken into consideration when taking strategic decisions and will enable the bank to address challenges and constraints to the development of intra-African trade and the blue economy as catalyst for economic transformation.
“This should thus facilitate cooperation between the various stakeholders in harnessing the potential of this new frontier for the benefit of our people. Through our exchanges, through the ideas presented, as well as through our African institutions, we are seeking the structural transformations that Africa needs,” said VP Faure.
He added that we must start with the will and determination to position our economies in such a way as to maximise our strengths.
Mr Faure told representatives of Afreximbank shareholders that we must seek to enhance our value chains – and that through intra African trade and through the next frontier such as the Blue Economy, we can accelerate this investment in African owned value chains. It is all about seeking a better positioning for Africa within global value chains.
“Afreximbank is positioned as one of the main instruments of structural transformation in Africa. It has already proven its role as a catalyst for enhancing growth and for improving wealth creation across our continent. As evidenced by its engagement in the Green Economy and the Blue Economy, it is also a leader of innovation, and of exploring new frontiers. For we all know, that the reward for early movers is always greater – even if this also means there are greater risks.
“Through smart structures and innovative financial products we can dramatically reduce this risk and create a secure and dependable investment environment. Initiatives such as the Blue Economy are the soundest of all investments. Fundamentally they are about sustainability,” said VP Faure.
As Africa has for too long been beholden to a model of economic growth that has attempted to divorce economic sustainability from environmental sustainability, VP Faure told the bank’s shareholders that investments in sustainable finance are also investments in a sustainable economy situated within a sustainable environment.
“Through Afreximbank, we can create the tools that will empower local ownership of these sustainable growth models, and also generate future opportunities for re-investment. This is the conviction of the Seychelles government as we take on the role of chair of our organisation, and we thank all our partners, for their support in working towards this goal,” said VP Faure as he thanked Afreximbank for choosing Seychelles for its 23rd annual general meeting and the shareholders for being partners and investors in strengthening intra-African trade.
When he addressed the gathering, Afreximbank president, Dr Benedict Oramah said Africa is stronger and more resilient today than it was when a similar crisis struck in the 1980s.
He added that when he was entrusted with the leadership of this great Bank just about a year ago and by the time he was appointed, Africa was already experiencing economic difficulties.
“As I assumed office, the challenges intensified. Prices of key commodities of export interest to Africa suffered precipitous declines,” he said adding that still some good developments have emerged and hold strong prospects of defining Africa’s future.
Those include Dangote Industries who are investing over US $9 billion in Nigeria to create some of the largest petroleum refinery and petrochemical facilities in the world; Ethiopia which has in recent years demonstrated that a resource poor African country can become an important centre for light manufacturing in the world, setting the pace which many African economies are gradually beginning to follow; Egypt’s El-Sewedy Electric has shown that an African heavy equipment manufacturer can compete globally and, in fact, be a source of power equipment Africa badly needs; the government of Côte d’Ivoire, under President Alassane Ouattara which has demonstrated that a commodity-dependent economy, coming out of war, can achieve a blistering pace of economic expansion, such that the Ivorian economy has become one of only two economies globally to achieve the enviable growth rate of more than 7% during the last five years; and across eastern and some parts of southern Africa, the Export Trading Group (ETG), an Africa-based global trading company, is single-handedly fostering viable supply chains hinged on agro-processing in Africa for exports and creating markets and wealth for millions of farmers.
He noted that there are reasons for the successes and also reasons for the dismal challenges.
“Africa is stronger and more resilient today than it was when a similar crisis struck in the 1980s. Macroeconomic management is more prudent and debt levels are sustainable, with the ratio of debt to national income for many countries well below fifty percent, compared to multiples of that level in the 1990s. So, while the economic shocks might have presented a nightmare to commercial bankers, your bank saw it as a call to duty; a valid test of its raison-d’être; a motive force to galvanise every true African towards the realisation of our shared goal of delinking from commodities and leveraging the continent’s innate strengths for growth and prosperity,” said Dr Oramah.
He noted that the bank’s balance sheet improved from US $5.2 billion in December 2014, through US $7.1 billion in December 2015, to US $11.2 billion as at June, 2016, while its total capital, including contingent (callable capital) as at June 2016 stood at about US $2 billion. New shareholders joined the bank over the period and they are the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), the Dangote Group, the Seychelles Pension Fund, and Nouvobanq.
Dr Oramah said the shareholders’ trust and confidence in the bank did not start today and did not start with him, but with his predecessors, presidents Christopher Edordu and Jean-Louis Ekra, who did the hard work and planted the tree that has borne the fruits we are reaping today.
The bank also signed memoranda of understanding with the Eximbank of China and Made-In-Africa Initiative (see separate story).