Afreximbank’s 2018 Financial Statements Shows Growing Loan Book and Improving Interest Margins

 Thursday, April 11, 2019   / 05:00PM  / Afreximbank

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has released its abridged audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2018, showing strong financial and operational performance, with total comprehensive income for the year amounting to $285.4 million. 

The total comprehensive income reflects a solid growth of 24 per cent compared to the prior year performance of $229.8 million and was achieved mainly due to higher net income in 2018 amounting to $ 275.9 million compared to $220.5 million in 2017. 

The results, released in Cairo, show that the Bank’s total assets grew by 13 per cent from $11.91 billion as at 31 December 2017 to $13.42 billion as at 31 December 2018, with that result explained mainly by the solid growth in net loans and advances which went up 30.3 per cent.

Commenting on the results, Bank President Prof. Benedict Oramah said that the performance was a reflection of the strength of Afreximbank’s underlying business and restated commitment to “driving our strategic objectives, to strong orderly growth in assets and earnings.”

Results Highlights 

In a presentation on the results, Bank President Prof. Benedict Oramah said that the results reflected the continuing successful implementation of the Bank’s five-year strategic plan, “Impact 2021”, which emphasized: Improving Intra-Africa Trade; Facilitating Industrialisation and Export Development; Strengthening Trade Finance Leadership; and Improving Financial Soundness and Performance.

The results reaffirmed the Bank’s transition to normal operations, with growing loan book and improving interest margins, he said, noting that the pursuit of the medium-term strategy had led to higher operating expenses driven by staff costs and one-off general expenses relating to ongoing initiatives.

The Bank’s Intra-African Trade Strategy, including the Intra-African Trade Fair being held in collaboration with the African Union, underpinned the expected growth in trade finance, project finance and advisory services in the short to medium-term, he said.

Prof. Oramah announced that the Bank was planning a secondary listing of its depositary receipts in order to improve liquidity and access to diversified investor base. It had also explored alternative sources of funding the balance sheet and deployed excess cash holdings to finance loans with better interest margins.

It was developing an African payment platform to facilitate intra-African trade and to help mitigate the challenge posed by low access to international foreign exchange, added President Oramah.

The result highlights include:

Further details about the financial statements can be found here (PDF).

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