The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed a $100 million financing agreement with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private sector (ICD) in Shariah compliant countries.
This is in line with the corporation plan to promote SMEs in Shariah-compliant countries. ICD is a multilateral organisation and a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. The Chief Executive Officer of ICD, Mr Khaled Al Aboodi, in a statement yesterday, in Lagos, said that the facility being provided by ICD was for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in ICD-member countries. Aboodi noted that the facility is for SMEs in the industrial, communication, technology, healthcare, construction and agricultural sectors.
On his part, the Executive Vice President at Afreximbank, Mr. Amr Kamel, stated: “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. It will also promote our knowledge in Islamic finance and provide us with additional manoeuvring capacity in terms of product offerings to our clients. We are delighted that ICD has chosen to partner with us in the pursuit of Africa’s trade development. This collaboration will contribute to the objective of fostering sustainable economic growth in the member countries of our two institutions leading to job creation, contribution to export and Islamic finance development, among others.”
The mandate of ICD is to support economic development and promote the development of the private sector in member countries through providing financing facilities and/or investments which are in accordance with the principles of Shari’ah. ICD also provides advice to governments and private organisations to encourage the establishment, expansion and modernisation of private enterprises. Afreximbank, on the other hand, is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.
The bank which has its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors and non-African investors.
Vanguard
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