Barbados could be in line for about US$400 million in deals financed by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
President and chairman Professor Benedict Oramah says this is a portion of the US$2.5 billion in
deals now in the pipeline for Caribbean countries “across various strategic sectors”.
Following Jamaica’s recent accession to the partnership agreement with the bank, Oramah said the approved financing limit to the Caribbean has increased to US$3 billion.
Barbados has already benefited from a US$25 million loan for Kensington Oval Management Inc., which the outgoing president referenced, while saying more funding for Barbados was expected.
He was speaking at Radisson Conference Centre here in St George’s, Grenada, on Day 1 of the fourth AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum.
“In Barbados, Afreximbank financed the redevelopment of a sports facility that would also double as an arena for hosting creative events. The bank is also currently considering deals worth about US$400 million across various sectors of the Barbadian economy,” Oramah told the audience which included Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
He recalled that it was during a meeting with Mottley in 2021 that the relationship between the Caribbean, Afreximbank and by extension, Africa, took root.
“In just under four years, our partnership has yielded tangible, historic results. With Jamaica having signed the partnership agreement a few weeks ago, 13 of the 14 independent CARICOM member states are participating in the partnership agreement, amongst themselves, and between them and Afreximbank,” he shared.
“Eleven of these have ratified the agreement providing the bank a solid legal foundation to operate, support and invest in their economies. This is not merely a bureaucratic milestone. It is a sovereign declaration that the CARICOM states see in Africa, not just its past, but also its future.”
He also reminded that “we have established a fully functional regional office in Barbados, staffed by committed professionals and implementing a growing pipeline of deals.
“But we did not stop there. We are building the Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre in Bridgetown – an almost US$200 million architectural symbol, the bank’s deep and unshakable commitment to the Caribbean.”
Oramah noted that “with twin towers, this centre would host innovation labs, digital trade platforms, an SME Incubation Centre, a world class hotel, as well as conferencing and training facilities – all designed to make the centre a hub for Africa-Caribbean trade and investments, bridging the information and financing gap that currently stands in the way we do business.
“So, in less than three years, Afreximbank flag would be hoisted above the multi-storey twin towers, reminding us of our beloved Pan-African brave heroes and the clarion call that we must fight for the now and posterity.”
In addition to Barbados, the bank’s other Caribbean initiatives included providing about US$250 million in co-financing for the construction of a “world class tertiary hospital” in Grenada; about US$500 million in funding for enterprise development, road infrastructure and a permanent exhibition centre in The Bahamas, and US$500 million funding for Suriname’s state oil company, Staatsolie, to acquire 20 per cent interest in the GranMorgu offshore oil field being operated by Total SA.
In his speech during the forum’s opening session, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said that having “for too long” focused on political independence, sovereignty, borders and governance, it was time for the region to focus on business, wealth and economies.
“It is about money, it is about business, it is about trade, it is about investment, it looks like direct shipping routes, connecting African and Caribbean ports and lifting visa restrictions,” he said.
“Four years ago, many doubted whether the African bank would have been financing over US$2.5 billion to Caribbean businesses. I’m sure many doubted whether the African bank would be building its Caribbean headquarters in Bridgetown, Barbados. But in the span of four wonderful years, it is all happening, and so too the shipping lines between Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America and the airlines can, and if I have anything to do with it, must and will happen,” he added.
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