Afreximbank Records $87.3m Income As Loan To Central Banks, Others Rose By 41%

African Export-Import Bank increased lending to Central Banks, Commercial banks and businesses in the continent by 41 per cent leading to a four per cent increase in net income.

The pan-African multilateral trade finance institution said on Thursday that its net income was $87.3m in the first quarter of 2021.

In the first quarter of last year, the bank saw its net income rise to $84.2m.

The performance was “achieved largely due to a 23 per cent growth in net interest income,” said the bank.

For the bank, the surge in its net interest income was connected with a 41 per cent growth in net loans and advances.

As a strategy to reduce risk, the bank decreased its interest expense by 11 per cent.

Afreximbank said its total assets from $19.31bn held December 2020 to U$19.25bn due to implementation of the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility.

Shareholders’ funds increased by 2.64 per cent to $3.46bn from $3.37bn recorded in December 2020.

It reflects “support from existing investors and strong internal capital generation capacity,” the bank said.

Afreximbank President, Benedict Oramah, said, “In the context of a global economy which has improved since the last quarter of 2020 with the successful roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, we are pleased to have reported year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2021 and closed the period in a healthy financial position with strong capital levels.”