Afreximbank to Launch Currency Trading Platform in May 2024 to Address Intra-African Trade Financing Gap

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) recently announced it has plans to launch its currency trading platform as part of its ongoing plans to address the intra-African trade financing gap, estimated to be over $50 billion annually.

Prof. Benedict Oramah, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Afreximbank, announced this. He made this known during the 8th Goddy Jidenma Foundation (GJF) biennial public lecture tagged, "The trade route to poverty reduction in Africa in a de-globalising world."

He stated that the plans to launch the app are ongoing, and it's expected to launch the platform in May 2024 following the immediate need to fill the intra-African trade gap aggressively.

According to the Afreximbank boss, the firm operates an Intra-African Trade Division that has disbursed over $40 billion since 2016, with about $11 billion outstanding, equivalent to about 28% of Afreximbank's loan portfolio.

He said, 

• The Currency Trading Platform will also be launched under the auspices of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). It is now possible for a small farmer in Malawi to use his cell phone to purchase a Nollywood streaming movie and pay in the Malawian Kwacha. At the same time, the seller in Nigeria receives naira. We are nearing the time when an Egyptian can buy shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, paying in Egyptian Pounds.

The Afreximbank boss said access to trade and investment information is critical, "as lack of access is perhaps the greatest impediment to intra-regional trade."

He said Afreximbank offers an artificial intelligence-enabled trade information platform under Tradar Intelligence to address this challenge. 

He added, 

• It is for the same reason that Afreximbank collaborates with the African Union Commission (AUC), the AfCFTA Secretariat, and others to host a biennial intra-African trade fair. He said that the three editions held since 2018 have attracted over 70,000 visitors, 4,000 exhibitors, and about 120 billion US dollars in deals.

Discussing the status of implementation, he said the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Secretariat is operational in Accra, Ghana, where 54 countries have signed the agreement and 47 have ratified it. 

"While much progress has been made, much is still required to boost trading under the agreement. For example, to avoid falling victim to the discontent that negatively impacts globalisation, the AfCFTA must be complimented by the free movement of Africans across the continent with the right to work. Although 32 countries have signed the treaty, only four have ratified it, falling short of the required 15 ratifications for the Free Movement Protocol to enter into force. We must continue to push aggressively for countries to ratify the treaty to get the requisite ratifications for it to come into force," he urged.

Also speaking, the Founder and Executive Secretary of GJF, Dr. Ije Jidenma, said there is a perfect congruence between Prof. Oramah's Pan-African vision and the GJF quest to be part of the national think tank and find solutions to the nation's developmental challenges.

She said,

• Even though the developmental turf is tough, as a seasoned public intellectual and one with a great sense of history, Prof. Oramah is one person who is not ready to give up hope about Africa's renaissance.

On his part, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of GJF, Pat Utomi, stated that the world has gone through rounds of globalisation, recession, and war, advising that the challenge is for Nigeria to think outside the box on ways it could prosper in this new swing in Africa.