Africa
Afreximbank re-affirms to support factoring as alternative source of trade financing
The African Export-Import Bank (AfreximBank) has reaffirmed its readiness to support factoring as a viable alternative source of trade financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. It said, “given that access to finance remains a key constraint to operations of SMEs in Africa, availability of sustainable trade finance is essential to propel the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).” The Model Law on Factoring developed and promoted since 2016 by the AfreximBank, a Development Partner of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), has become more relevant than ever with the launch of the AfCFTA, according to its release copied to the Ghana News Agency. Ms Kanayo Awani, the Banks’ Managing Director of the Intra-African Trade Initiative and Chairperson of FCI’s Africa Chapter, recently told participants at a virtual workshop focused on ‘opportunities for factoring in Africa,’ that “the Bank had to date provided financing to emerging factoring companies in Cameroon, Senegal, Congo, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Nigeria, while factoring volumes in Africa grew by 10% to EUR24-billion in 2019.”
Source: GhanaWeb
Africa
Experts discuss African capital market space, joint African Exchanges Linkage Project
The Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) partnership, hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) have provided a recent progress update on the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP), which aims to connect Africa’s leading securities exchanges and boost cross-border investment flows. The updates were given during a virtual webinar held on 26 February. Among the AELP milestones discussed during the event were the establishment of six criteria to use in assessing the candidacy of exchanges wishing to join, establishment of a project management office and rollout of a communications program about the initiative. The seven AELP exchanges are: Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (integrating the exchanges of Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo), Morocco’s Casablanca Stock Exchange, the Egyptian Exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Collectively, AELP covers 14 countries, 1,055 African companies and a market capitalization of USD1.2-trillion, or 95% of the market capitalization of all African exchanges.
Source: AfDB
East Africa
Trade within East Africa drops by 30%
The export of goods among East African countries has dropped by more than […]
