The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private sector (ICD) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have signed a line of agreement for a US$100mn financing facility
The financing facility is expected to be utilised by Afreximbank to provide Shariah-compliant financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in its member countries in Africa.
Afreximbank has a pipeline of projects in the industrial, communication, technology, healthcare, construction and agricultural sectors that would be financed by the ICD line of financing.
“This facility will give a boost to our effort to implement our current strategy which prioritises intra-African trade, intra –African investments and export manufacturing of the labour intensive type,” said Amr Kamel, executive vice president at Afreximbank.
“It will also promote our knowledge in Islamic finance and provide us with additional manoeuvring capacity in terms of product offerings to our clients,” he added.
“This collaboration will contribute to the objective of fostering sustainable economic growth in the member countries of our two institutions, leading to job creations, contribution to export and Islamic finance development, among others,” Kamel further noted.
The important economic and financial developmental impact will be to develop private sector, especially SMEs, to expand the real economic growth based on value creation, and promote Islamic Finance based on the pipeline of AFREXIMBANK projects.
The line of finance facility is also expected to have an impact on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with ICD’s strategic objectives.
