Congo, Afreximbank to support oil fields with $250 million

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Government of the Republic of Congo have signed a facility agreement under which the Bank will provide $250 million in future flow pre-financing to meet the Government’s strategic plan for its oil fields.

Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah, who signed on behalf of the Bank in Cairo, said that the facility was part of a $1-billion syndicated loan commitment which the government had mandated Afreximbank to raise for the country to enable it cater for capital investment financing requirements for oil production increases and to also finance trade-related investments in the oil and gas sector.

Dr. Oramah, who noted that the current low oil prices continued to put “unimaginable pressures on governments of oil exporting countries in Africa, including the Republic of Congo”, stated that the Bank had stepped in with innovative programmes to mitigate the adverse impact of those economic shocks on its member states.

The new facility was expected to have significant development impact on the Republic of Congo by supporting the government to finance and expand upstream oil production activities, expand oil exports and improve foreign exchange earnings, support productive activities to help it diversify away from oil, and create jobs and improve the people’s living conditions, he said.

In his own comments, Calixte Ganongo, Minister of Finance of Republic of Congo, welcomed the support extended to his country by Afreximbank and said that the government had turned to the Bank because it believed in tapping into the continent’s resources.

He pledged that the Republic of Congo would meet its obligations to the Bank and would do everything to support its work.

Also speaking, Raphael Malonga, Ambassador of the Republic of Congo to Egypt, urged Afreximbank to maintain its current momentum in addressing the trade finance needs of its African countries.