Africa
Export-Import Bank ready to assist Ghana's trade and
industry
From Benjamin Mensah, GNA Special Correspondent, Abuja,
Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria, June 21, GNA - Mr Jean-Louis Ekra, President
of the Cairo-based Africa Export-Import Bank at the weekend
said the Bank was ready to help industries to add value to
their raw materials and facilitate trade between the
continent and rest of the world.
He
said Africa had a very low participation of between
two-and-half and three percent in the current global trade
despite her rich natural and material resources.
"Africa's share in the global trade is insufficient," Mr
Ekra said in a chat with journalists on Saturday, after he
had met with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, who is in
Abuja, Nigeria for an ECOWAS summit.
Mr
Ekra said his meeting with President Mills was to seek his
guidance on how the Bank could develop its operations in
Ghana with a view to developing intra-African trade and also
trade between the continent and rest of the world.
He
congratulated President Mills on his elections to the high
office of President.
He
said since its establishment in 1993, the Bank had been
providing funding to its 34 member countries and their
financial operators including Ghana, to develop trade and
industries.
It
also offers advisory services to member countries to boost
the export sector.
Mr
Ekra said the Bank was currently giving attention to the
development of the mining industry in Ghana and had
consequently provided credit lines to help develop the
supply chain.
“Despite the existence of mining enclaves in Africa, they
had very little or no links with the local economy,” Mr Ekra
said, adding that such missing links formed the focus of the
Bank.
"We are trying to provide support for value addition to
African exports to enhance their values. We have specific
plans towards Ghana."
Mr
Ekra said the Bank had provided a line of credit of 40
million dollars to Merchant Bank of Ghana, based on its
remittances abroad to help finance local entities and
develop the local content of the mining sector.
The African Export Import Bank was providing another 40
million dollars for the development of Ghana's export
sector, he added.
GNA
