Afreximbank Announces $ 1 Billion Adjustment Mechanism for Implementation of ACFTA

Professor Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), yesterday in Niamey, took the floor on 12^thSpecial Summit of Heads of State of the African Union (AU), announcing a series of initiatives to support the implementation of the African Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA).

Mr. Oramah told the heads of state gathered for the launch of the operational phase of the agreement, that Afreximbank set up an adjustment facility of $ 1 billion to enable countries to orderly adjust to sudden and significant losses in customs revenue. result of the implementation of the agreement.

"This facility will help countries accelerate the ratification of AfCFTA," he said, declaring to Heads of State that by starting the operational phase of AfCFTA , "you have started a movement".

"You must not look back," continued the president. "This movement is now unstoppable."

He added that, as part of its support for AfCFTA implementation, the Bank had badisted in facilitating the work of the African Regional Organization for Standardization and the AU. in the implementation of the Agreement.

Professor Oramah also informed the Summit of the launch of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), the continent's first continent-wide digital payment system to facilitate the payment of goods and services in intra-African trade. African currency in African currencies.

"We will launch today the Pan-African Digital Payment Infrastructure – the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) – which we have developed in collaboration with the African Union," he said. he declares. "This is a platform that will allow intra-regional payments to integrate, to save the continent more than $ 5 billion in transaction costs of payment per year, to formalize a significant share of some 50 billion of intra-African informal trade and, above all, contribute to boosting intra-African trade. "

Professor Oramah said that by allowing Africans to pay for intraregional trade in their local currencies, "the digital platform will be a fatal blow to Africa's underdevelopment caused by the defragmentation of its savings. Our goal is to significantly reduce the currency content of intra-African trade payments. "

Noting that "no people have achieved significant development when their economic progress depends on others," he said, with the aim of "re-centering industrial development and the value chain across the continent. to stimulate trade and investment ". reduce the economic costs of making so many rare currency payments. "

"Making cross-border payments easier, cheaper and safer is a crucial step in creating the Africa we want," he said.

— Afreximbank