Moody’s Affirms Afreximbank’s Credit Rating at Baa1

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Africa’s foremost multilateral trade finance institution, announces that the global credit ratings agency Moody’s, on 14 July affirmed the Bank’s long-term credit rating at Baa1, with a stable outlook.

The agency determines its rating for supranationals based on three criteria: capital adequacy, liquidity, and funding and strength of member support.

Moody’s notes that Afreximbank’s credit profile is “supported by its collateralized trade finance business model, with a short average asset maturity and a relatively well-diversified loan portfolio that allows it to respond flexibly to the coronavirus crisis.”

The report adds that “the stable outlook is supported by the Bank’s successful equity-raising performance and its track record of adapting its strategy to challenges in the operating environment of member countries without undermining its asset-quality performance.”

Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said:

“Afreximbank is delighted by the outcome of Moody’s credit review, considering the challenges posed by COVID-19. As well as having a profit-oriented business model, the Bank has a developmental mandate and a responsibility to all its members states to intervene in times of emergency. We have acted decisively with the launch of the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA). We look forward to continuing supporting the Bank’s member countries in a prudent and impactful manner.”

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution with the mandate of financing and promoting intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank was established in October 1993 and owned by African governments, the African Development Bank and other African multilateral financial institutions as well as African and non-African public and private investors.

The Bank was established under two constitutive documents, an Agreement signed by member states, which confers on the Bank the status of an international organization, and a Charter signed by all Shareholders, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that are supporting the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby sustaining economic expansion in Africa.

At the end of 2019, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at USD$15.5 billion and its shareholders funds amounted to US$2.8 billion. Voted “African Bank of the Year” in 2019, the Bank disbursed more than US$31billion between 2016 and 2019. Afreximbank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A-), Moody’s (Baa1) and Fitch (BBB-). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.