Afreximbank, AU, to create digital ecosystem for trade finance flows

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is working, with the support of African Union (AU), to create a digital ecosystem that will eliminate the major bottlenecks to trade finance flows within Africa, Bank President Benedict Oramah has announced in Washington D.C.

Delivering an address on 11 April at the IGD Frontier 100 Forum organized by the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, Oramah said that one of the major constraints to intra-African trade was lack of information to support intra-regional trade and investments. That was why many African countries were importing products from outside the continent while neighboring countries were exporting the same products at a much lower cost.

It was to address that challenge that Afreximbank and the AU were working to use digital technology to improve access to trade information and facilitate the use of African national currencies via intra African trade settlements, he explained.

Oramah said that Afreximbank was developing a focused programme to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the continent, recognizing that SMEs were a vital component to unlocking intra-African potential.

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In his opening remarks Oramah had noted that IGD has been facilitating discourse on important African issues over the years and said that Afreximbank identified with the efforts and achievements of the IGD, hence its close partnership with the initiative.

Also speaking, Leila Ndiaye, President and CEO of IGD, said that the initiative’s work was aimed at supporting Africa’s growth and development agenda and at pushing to unlock intra-African trade through SME growth and development.
Oramah and Hippolyte Fofack, Afreximbank Chief Economist, who accompanied him to the event, also participated in two panel discussions, on “Supporting Africa’s Growth and Development Agenda” and “Expanding Regional Trade and Investment for Africa’s future”, respectively.

Hope Moses-Ashike, Washington, D.C.

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.