The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it is set to launch a US$1bn continent-wide transit guarantee scheme, having agreed last month to pilot the programme in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).
In March, Afreximbank said it would begin issuing transit bonds in Comesa member states after it finalised an agreement to join the bloc’s Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) scheme.
With US$200mn earmarked for support in Comesa, an Afreximbank spokesperson says that eligible applicants will include exporting and importing corporates, freight forwarders and clearing agencies, and “reputable financial institutions” seeking to reinsure their transit guarantee exposure.
A global survey of SMEs has found a “precipitous rise” in the cost of working capital finance, as well as growing concerns over late or extended payments from SMEs’ customers.
Carried out by working capital marketplace C2FO in December 2020 and January 2021, the survey quizzed more than 6,700 representatives from SMEs in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific on their working capital health.
Though the vast majority said they had enough liquidity on hand to survive for the next six months, C2FO says there has been a sharp increase in the cost of short-term working capital finance that appears to be concentrated in the SME market.
Having received regulatory approval to acquire a controlling stake in South Africa’s Grobank, Nigeria headquartered Access Bank has outlined plans to rename the lender and expand its trade finance business.
The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) announced last week that it had signed off on the transaction, which is set to be completed in Q2 2021 and will see Grobank rebranded as Access Bank (South Africa).
Access Bank group managing director and CEO, Herbert Wigwe, told
CNBC Africa that the deal will be comprised of US$60mn in tier 1 and tier 2 capital, and that the plan is to boost Grobank’s trade finance capabilities.
Work on improving the East African Community’s (EAC) single customs territory (SCT) has continued with the selection of a Singaporean technology provider to design a system for digital trade documentation flows.
The EAC, which comprises Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, launched the single customs territory in 2013. It is designed to ease trade between the five member states and trim costs by clearing shipments at their first port of arrival or departure, but inefficient flows of customs information have hindered its effectiveness.
Singapore’s GUUD, through its subsidiary vCargo Cloud Kenya, won a tender to create a centralised platform for the SCT which will allow customs documentation to be easily shared by member states’ authorities, .
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