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…Oramah sees bank’s assets, guarantees hitting $250 billion in 10 years
…hails PAPSS, AMCE, intra-Africa trade growth as legacy milestones
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) will commence construction of a $5 billion integrated textile industrial facility in Nigeria in July this year, as part of a bold continent-wide industrialisation strategy, Benedict Oramah, the outgoing President, announced on Friday.
The facility, to be developed under a partnership between Afreximbank, Arise IIP and Swiss textile equipment manufacturer Reiter, is expected to revive Nigeria’s moribund cotton industry, save the country up to $4.7 billion annually in textile imports, and create up to 250,000 jobs.
“This would be one of the very large textile facilities being developed under a $5 billion partnership… supported by the Swiss Government,” Oramah said in his speech at the bank’s just concluded 32nd Annual Meetings in Abuja.
This landmark project underscores Afreximbank’s deepening focus on industrialisation, which Oramah described as the “cornerstone of Africa’s economic transformation.”
The move also forms part of the bank’s broader ambition to anchor Africa’s trade resilience and self-reliance, following years of foreign dependence that, he argued, have yielded little progress.
Looking ahead, Oramah projected that Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees—currently at $43.5 billion—could surpass $250 billion in the next decade. “I have no doubt that we would see that… because it is by our owning and controlling a bank of that size that Africa can hope to escape from the shame of poverty and underdevelopment,” he said.
The textile facility announcement was one of several landmark interventions Oramah revealed in what was his final annual address after a decade at the helm. He steps down this weekend as Afreximbank’s third president, having overseen a transformative period for the institution and the continent’s economic infrastructure.
Since assuming office in 2015, Oramah has steered the Cairo-headquartered institution through successive crises—including commodity shocks, COVID-19, the Ukraine war, and an ongoing debt crunch—while doubling down on the bank’s long-term vision of intra-African trade, regional industrialisation, and strategic self-sufficiency.
Under his leadership, Afreximbank disbursed over $155 billion in trade and development finance—$120 billion of it since 2020. The bank’s total assets and guarantees have grown more than eightfold, revenues sevenfold, and net income surged from $125 million in 2015 to nearly $1 billion in 2024. Shareholders’ funds rose from $1 billion to $7.5 billion.
“We have collectively, over the past decade, built a solid financial institution that is good for Global Africa,” Oramah told delegates, including African heads of state, ministers, and central bankers. “I gave the job the best of my energy, intellect, courage and determination.”
Oramah’s signature doctrine of “African best practice” over imported international models featured prominently in his farewell address. He argued that Africa’s persistent poverty, low industrial base, and fragmented markets stem from blindly following policies designed elsewhere.
“Our approach at Afreximbank has been to find an alternative ‘best practice’,” he said. “It is because of the adoption of ‘African Best Practice’ that we have accomplished some impactful interventions.”
Among those were Afreximbank’s $4 billion support for the Dangote Refinery, a $2.9 billion facility for Tanzania’s Rufiji Hydropower Dam, and a $750 million loan that enabled Ghana to secure IMF support.
The bank’s COVID-19 response included setting up a pooled procurement platform for medical supplies and a $2 billion vaccine facility that helped Africa secure 400 million doses. Amid the Ukraine war, the bank disbursed $50 billion to cushion shocks from supply chain disruptions.
One of the most pressing gaps being tackled, Oramah said, is the absence of reliable trade and investment information. “For far too long, we have placed our health, our trade, and our destiny in the hands of others,” he said.
Consequently, under Oramah’s transformative leadership, Afreximbank evolved into a development powerhouse, giving birth to a suite of institutions that now underpin Africa’s economic resilience and integration.
Among these is the creation of the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja — a $300 million state-of-the-art facility delivering world-class oncology, haematology, and cardiovascular care, with a research arm focused on diseases affecting people of African descent. The bank plans to replicate more of such centres across Africa shortly.
Oramah also spearheaded the launch of the Africa Trade Centres, hubs designed to provide trade-enabling infrastructure and digital tools across the continent and the Caribbean. These centres serve as platforms for facilitating intra-African trade and investment through the African Trade Gateway, an AI-powered ecosystem that includes trade information, regulatory compliance, and matchmaking services. The first of those centres opened in Abuja last April.
He also championed the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the Bank’s development-oriented equity investment arm, now active in 13 countries. The establishment of the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) and the Africa-Caribbean Business Council (ACBC) marked a new era in Global Africa collaboration.
Each of these institutions reflects Oramah’s vision of building an “Africa-owned, Africa-led” architecture capable of delivering sustainable growth, health sovereignty, and industrial transformation for the continent.
“Because we realised that there was no common denominator practice that propelled the high-performing economies of the world… an institution like ours must understand the power of capital owned and controlled by Africans, in unlocking Africa’s development, and use it boldly, and with courage and expertise, to support African people,” Oramah said.
Afreximbank has also been instrumental in building the institutional foundations for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
These include: PAPSS, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, now active in 16 countries with 160 banks, backed by a $3 billion Afreximbank clearing fund; AfPAY, a foreign currency payment platform that has processed $68 billion in transactions since 2020; the Intra-African Trade Fair, which has delivered $100 billion in deals since 2018 and is evolving into the AfCFTA marketplace.
Others are the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, valued at $10 billion, which provides support to countries during the transition to tariff-free trade, as well as Africa Quality Assurance Centres, including one already operational in Ogun State, Nigeria, to boost product certification and harmonisation of standards.
Oramah’s tenure also marked Afreximbank’s expansion into the Caribbean. Over the past four years, 12 CARICOM nations joined the bank, and a regional office was launched in Barbados. The bank also facilitated a $1.6 billion facility for Suriname’s national oil company and is supporting Guyana’s local content strategy with a $1 billion fund.
As he prepared to hand over leadership, Oramah paid tribute to his predecessors and urged continued support for Afreximbank’s mission. “Africa must remain your passion and priority. We must not rest until the dignity of all Africans is restored,” he said.
“Afreximbank has become the trusted institution for mitigating the adverse impacts of economic shocks. I see the bank at no less than $250 billion in assets and guarantees in 10 years. And we must support and work towards that vision.”
