Afreximbank Grows Assets By 13.4% To $22bn Despite Challenging Operating Environment

The African Export-Import Bank has released the consolidated financial statement for the year ended December 31 2021, with interest income crossing the $1bn mark once again.

The financial statement stated that Afreximbank Group’s total assets grew by 13.4 per cent from $19.3bn as at 31 December 2020 to about $22bn as at 31 December 2021.

This is primarily due to the 11.5 per cent growth in net loans and advances and a 12.1 per cent increase in cash and cash equivalents to $18.2bn and $3.1bn respectively.

With significant growth in guarantees and letters of credit, in line with strategy, total assets and guarantees of the Group rose from $21.7bn in 2020 to $25bn as at 31 December 2021.

The Bank achieved a 10.1 per cent increase in the its net income from $351.7m in 2020 to $387.3m in 2021 largely due to a solid growth in operating income in 2021.

However, the Group’s net income of $375.8m was slightly lower than the net income reported by the Bank ($387.3m) mainly because of the pre-establishment expenses incurred by the subsidiaries.

The Group’s gross income profile improved having recorded $1.13bn as against the $1.08bn in 2020 on the back of strong interest income, which crossed $1bn in 2021.

The increase in funded income was driven by healthy interest margins and higher loan volumes.

Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, expressed satisfaction about the financial performance.

He said, “2021 was, again, a challenging year with continued economic and business disruptions caused by the pandemic, including continued supply chain disruptions, delayed access to the COVID-19 vaccines and rising global prices.

“Throughout 2021, the Bank remained focused on proactively and aggressively supporting the fight against Covid-19 in Africa by acting as a financial and transaction advisor, guarantor, payment agent and instalment payment facility provider under the $2bn Advance Procurement Commitment Guarantee Facility which supported Africa Vaccine Acquisition Trust to secure 400m doses of Covid-19 vaccines for the continent with 220 million doses committed in parallel, we maintained strong support for financial institutions, corporates and our member states in other areas.”

Regarding flagship initiatives supporting the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Oramah noted that “The Bank has also made substantial progress on its strategic AfCFTA-enabling initiatives.

“In this regard, the Commercial operation of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System was launched on 13 January 2022.

“The customer due diligence data platform became operational; the Trade Information and Trade Regulations Portals have been developed and the development of the Africa Trade Exchange, an AfCFTA B2B / B2G platform is well advanced and will soon be launched to support pooled procurement of critical commodities in response to the Ukraine crisis.

“The Bank has also commenced the process of integrating these platforms through the creation of the African Trade Gateway.”

To support the implementation of its strategy, he explained that the Bank launched an African Union-endorsed general capital increase amounting to $6.5bn of which $2.6bn is to be paid-in capital.

“It is pleasing that the Bank has received immense support from its shareholders, with some of the equity having been received ahead of schedule.

“The Bank will remain focused on delivering on the priorities set under its new plan. Management is confident that the Bank’s solid financial position will provide a strong foundation for the Bank and its member states to sustain efforts towards building the Africa we all want and deserve.”