Afreximbank to create financing window for raw materials-to-finished goods projects

George Elombi, the president of the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), says the financial institution will create a financing window for projects that turns raw materials to finished goods.

Elombi announced the plan during his swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, while vowing his tenure will bring an end to raw commodities or mineral exports from Africa.

According to the Afreximbank president, the focus will now be on domestic processing across Africa.

“No more Nigerian bauxite, or Gabonese manganese, or Cameroonian bauxite, or South African bauxite, raw. We are not interested,” Elombi said.

“We will focus on domestic processing. This has numerous benefits.”

He reiterated that his administration will focus on developing strategic industries that can drive industrialisation and job creation.

“Afreximbank will therefore create a new high-impact financing window, specifically for projects that process raw minerals into semi-finished goods or finished goods,” the president said.

Elombi reaffirmed the bank’s promise to partner with Dapo Abiodun, Ogun state governor, on the fabric processing zone, saying partnerships are already in place.

He said the bank intends to establish a strategic minerals development programme that will process and finance entire value chains, from extraction and refining to manufacturing finished components.

Elombi explained that less than 20 percent of investment typically goes to mineral extraction, while over 80 percent goes to supporting infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports, and power stations.

Also, the president cited poor infrastructure as a major bottleneck to intra-African trade, highlighting the need for improvement.

He said the bank already has an agenda with countries that already produce excess power to construct transmission lines and take it to those with less.

“We will accelerate investments in critical trade-enabling infrastructure projects that directly connect African markets to one another,” he said.

The president said Afreximbank will invest in modernising seaports, constructing highways and rail lines, and building specialised logistics hubs, warehousing facilities, and pipelines.

Elombi added that priority would be given to infrastructure that links production centres with markets to unlock trade potential and lower the cost of doing business.