The Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank has approved the launch of the Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa.
The credit facility was developed by the bank to manage the impacts of the Ukraine/Russian war crisis on African economies and businesses. The programme amounts to $4 billion.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis which escalated on February 24, 2022 has had a significant effect on the global economy.
Given the importance of both Russia and Ukraine as sources of crude oil and gas, raw materials and grains, the outbreak of the conflict has wider repercussions on a global scale, including adversely affecting African economies, especially those that rely heavily on grain, fertilizer and fuel imports.
The Afreximbank’s UKAFPA programme would be implemented under various components.
They are the Import Re-Order Cost Adjustment Financing, which would help countries to meet immediate import price increases pending domestic demand adjustments and the Oil and Metals Buy-Back Financing to refinance over-collateralized loans in the context of the current high oil and metal prices, and thereby release more free cashflow for use in meeting other urgent needs, such as food and fertilizer imports and servicing rising cost of debt.
