by Linda Straker
- Bill set for debate and approval by Lower House on 23 May
- Afreximbank will help drive economic growth and development from non-traditional sources
- Caricom and OECS signed partnership agreement with Afreximbank in September 2022
The Grenada government will enact a law to nationalise the Agreement for the Establishment of a Partnership Between Member States of the Caribbean Community and the African Export-Import Bank (“the Agreement”) in Grenada and provide for its implementation.
The Bill is set for debate and approval by Members of the Lower House during its sitting on 23 May. In an April 2023 news conference, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said his cabinet had decided that Grenada would join Afreximbank to seek more concessionary financing to drive Grenada’s economic growth and development from non-traditional sources.
At the first Africa-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) held in Bridgetown, Barbados, in September 2022, Caricom and the OECS signed a partnership agreement with Afreximbank.
This Partnership Agreement consolidates the Bank’s efforts to promote and develop South-South trade, specifically trade between Africa and the Caribbean, in line with its Diaspora Strategy.
The Agreement also provides for facilitating and carrying on banking operations, borrowing funds, and providing support to payment arrangements to expand the international trade of African States and members of Caricom.
On 23 April, the Bank announced via a news release that its Board of Directors has approved the opening of the Bank’s Caricom office to be established in Barbados. “Afreximbank Caricom Office will support the implementation of the Partnership Agreement, entered into by, and between, Afreximbank and Caricom Member States aimed at expanding Africa-Caribbean trade and investment relations.”
Following the signing of the Partnership Agreement, the Bank announced that US$1.5 billion in credit limit was approved by the Board of Directors of Afreximbank to support eligible Caricom States, with a commitment to increase this to US$3 billion.
“The financing will be targeted at supporting economic sectors identified as core to boosting the region’s prosperity, particularly the development of trade-enabling infrastructure, as well as boosting trade and investments between Africa and the Caricom Member States while providing support to Small and Medium Enterprises,” said the release. “The establishment of Afreximbank Caricom Office is critical to facilitating operations of the Bank in the Caribbean Community. It will bring Afreximbank’s products and initiatives closer to the business community and ensure that the Bank rapidly ramps-up operations to promote stronger relations with the Governments in the region towards the pursuit of mutually identified priorities.”
African nations better not be making money on the heads of those the sold for 30 pcs of silver.
KJV Proverbs 22:26-27
26 BE NOT thou ONE of them that strike hands, or of THEM THAT ARE SURETIES FOR DEBTS.
27 If thou hast NOTHING TO PAY, WHY SHOULD HE TAKE AWAY THY BED FROM UNDER THEE?
KJV Proverbs 22:7
7 The RICH RULETH OVER the POOR, and THE BORROWER IS SERVANT TO THE LENDER.
Something to think about, recent world news:
A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.