At the ongoing Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025) in Algiers, Algeria, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) outlined the concrete steps it is taking to bridge the continent’s financial and infrastructure gaps while tackling key trade barriers. Denys Denya, senior executive vice president at Afreximbank, shared how the institution is deploying targeted interventions to drive industrialisation, facilitate intra-African trade, and strengthen the continent’s economic resilience.
Since its inception, Afreximbank’s leadership has been focused on transforming Africa’s export profile, shifting away from raw material exports towards value-added production. Denya shared a personal anecdote: “When I joined, my former boss, who I see in the audience, introduced the Africa Cocoa Initiative. It was designed to stop the export of raw cocoa beans and instead promote value addition. Today, Côte d’Ivoire has the largest cocoa grinding capacity in the world. So, we are making progress.”
The strategy has extended to other commodities. “We have expanded this to cotton. Clothes are now being manufactured in Togo, Benin, and Zimbabwe. But all these initiatives require financing,” Denya explained.
Afreximbank began by assessing its own capacity. “We asked: are we fit for purpose? To access international markets, we got rated. Industrialisation needs long-term capital, but Africa’s capital markets are underdeveloped. So, we started issuing bonds globally in Japan, China, the U.S., and beyond. This has enabled us to mobilise the financial resources needed.”
Still, the challenges remain enormous. “The trade finance gap alone exceeds half a billion. Infrastructure funding needs are just as pressing,” Denya noted. To help address this, Afreximbank has worked to strengthen African financial institutions. “Under President Jean-Louis Ekra’s leadership, we supported institutions to obtain credit ratings from agencies like GCR, enabling them to raise their own capital.”
When international banks like Société Générale and BNP Paribas began retreating from Africa, Afreximbank stepped in. “We helped African entrepreneurs acquire and consolidate these banks, ensuring continued financing for value-added businesses.”
Standardisation is another core focus. Working with the African Union and AfCFTA Secretariat, Afreximbank is helping harmonise product standards across sectors such as pharmaceuticals and manufacturing. “An Egyptian pharmaceutical company can now sell in South Africa or Zimbabwe without repeating testing, this is a game-changer,” Denya said.
To address information asymmetry, the Bank has developed a digital platform that provides trade and regulatory data to help businesses explore and enter new markets. “Many traders don’t know what their neighbors produce. This tool changes that.”
Physical trade barriers are also being tackled. “We’re modernising border posts in partnership with regional blocs. The South Africa–Zimbabwe border has been completed. Work is underway on the Mozambique–South Africa–Zimbabwe corridor, and others including Zambia,” Denya said.
Transit inefficiencies are being resolved too. “Three months ago, I launched the COMESA Transit Bond in Nairobi. With one bond, goods can now cross multiple borders. We aim to roll this out continent-wide.”
On the infrastructure front, Afreximbank is investing in industrial parks through a partnership with ARISE IPP—15 have already been developed. The Bank is also spearheading a battery precursor project at the Zambia–DRC border, along with UNECA. “But we want to go further using lithium from Zimbabwe, manganese from South Africa, and graphite from Mozambique to produce not just precursors, but full batteries locally.”
This local production reduces emissions, curbs youth unemployment, and improves foreign exchange earnings. “Currently, we export raw materials to China and re-import finished products. That’s neither sustainable nor efficient.”
Denya emphasised that industrialisation also requires technology and skills development. “For us, the case for industrialisation is a no-brainer. Afreximbank is pulling every lever, financing, facilitation, and investment guarantees to make it happen.”
During the plenary session, the moderator asked what should be prioritised to accelerate progress: infrastructure, market knowledge, or something else?
“In reality, it’s not just one thing,” the speaker responded. “We must tackle several challenges in parallel.”
Power infrastructure is key. “To build factories, we need electricity. The continent faces power shortages. We must build stations, ports, rail, and road networks.”
Trade financing remains a critical gap. “We’re working to establish trading companies, modeled after Japan’s, to help informal traders pool and sell goods across borders efficiently.”
Standards are essential too. “We’re setting up quality assurance centers to cut costs and reduce the risk of export rejection.”
Payments are another bottleneck. “Most intra-African trade still relies on U.S. dollars or euros. That’s not sustainable. Afreximbank has developed a platform for trade in local currencies. we act like a central bank, settling transactions to boost intra-African trade.”
He said the challenges are complex and interconnected. But Afreximbank’s multi-pronged strategy from mobilising finance to improving infrastructure, standardising trade, and enabling local production is helping to lay the foundation for a more integrated, industrialised, and resilient African economy, he said.
