The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on Thursday said Sao Tomé and Principe’s had approached it for financial and advisory support to diversify its economy.
Patrice Trovoada, the Prime Minister of Sao Tomé and Principe’s, was quoted by the bank as seeking the support when Dr Benedict Oramah, President of the bank, visited the country.
Trovoada said the country’s decision in June 2016 to accede to the Agreement Establishing the bank was based on its strong belief that solutions to Africa’s development laid within the continent.
He said that the country’s strategic intent was to capture the economic opportunities of the regional value chains by providing logistics that would facilitate trade flows.
“Our top priorities for the next few years consist of the extension and upgrade of Sao Tomé and Principe’s airport and seaport facilities; the construction of fish processing infrastructure and logistics facilities linked to them.
“We want to expand the island’s tourism capacity that will bring about structural change and sustainable economic development for the benefit of all Sao Tomeans,” Trovoada. Oramah said that the country had taken a well-thought-out and targeted development approach based on the logistics demands and trade exchange needs of neighbouring countries.
He said the plan would position the country as a strategic hub and stop-over for trade in the Gulf of Guinea region.
“The Eden Island project, which Afreximbank helped create and finance in Seychelles, is currently contributing more than 20 per cent of the Seychellois GDP.
“The bank also helped construct leading hotels in Cape Verde and elsewhere to cater for growing high-end leisure and corporate tourism needs,” he added.
Oramah urged Sao Tomé and Príncipe to quickly conclude the ratification of the Agreement to enable the bank identify those that it could support like it did to Seychelles and Cape Verde.
Afreximbank is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.
The bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors and non-African investors.
Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement which gives it the status of an international organization and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations.
Since 1994, it has approved more than 41 billion dollars in credit facilities for African businesses including about 6.2 billion dollars in 2015.
The Bank is headquartered in Cairo.