| World Bank IMF and Dev Agencies |    933 VIEWS  |
| World Bank IMF and Dev Agencies | |
| 933 VIEWS | |
 | |
| PROSHARE | |
| PROSHARE | |
Saturday, May 02, 2020 /11:58
AM / by Afreximbank / Header Image Credit: Afreximbank
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has
announced a $3-million grant to complement continental efforts to combat the
COVID-19 pandemic. Afreximbank President Prof. Benedict Oramah,who made the
announcement in Cairo, said that the grant was in response to a request by
African heads of state, through the auspices of the African Union Chair Person,
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, for the mobilisation of resources to
address the pandemic.
He said that a significant proportion of the grant
would go to the COVID-19 Special Fund set up by the African Union (AU) as well
as to the African Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC).
"We hope that our modest contribution will help to
address some of the immediate needs. We encourage other African banks, funds,
corporations and charitable organisations to also contribute to the relief
effort," said Prof. Oramah, who noted that Afreximbank was working with the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the AU to help mobilise
grant funding for the COVID-19 mitigation responses.
Highlighting the need for wide institutional support
for the COVID-19 response effort, he said that "no one country or institution
will be able to rise to the challenge of the pandemic on its own."
Afreximbank's grantsupport comesin addition to several
initiativesthe Bank is taking to support the effort in fighting the pandemic,
such as the $3-billion Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA),
which it launched in March, to help African countries deal with the economic
and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bank has also set aside an amount of $200 million
for use in financing the production of COVID-19 equipment and supplies within
Africa.
President Oramah said that the resource constraints
and urgent nature of interventions on the ground required significant grant
financing to ensure timely support for emergency interventions in combating the
pandemic.
Afreximbank has a history of intervening in support of
African countries in times of crisis. In November 2014, the Bank contributed $1
million to the effort to combat the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease which
affected several countries in West Africa. In 2019, Afreximbank donated $1.5
million to countries in Southern Africa to support relief effortsfor victims of
Tropical Cyclone Idai
Related to Afreximbank
Related News
Signup with Facebook
Signup with Twitter
