The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced that Algeria has joined the bank as its 52nd member state.

This is contained in a statement by the bank’s spokesman Amadou Sall on Friday.

Afreximbank member states rose from 38 in 2015 to 51 in 2021, with Algeria’s accession, the bank is only three states short of achieving full continental coverage.

The bank added Algeria’s accession to the agreement establishing Afreximbank was formalised on June 8, by Presidential Decree No. 22-212.

“The subscription of the country to the shares of Afreximbank as part of its membership in the institution was also authorised by Presidential Decree No. 22-222 on June 14, 2022,” said the bank’s statement. “Algeria becomes a Class A shareholder in the bank and will be represented by the Algerian Ministry of Finance.”

Algeria has the ninth largest population and the fourth largest economy in Africa. It is also a member of the African Union, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Greater Arab Trade Area.

The statement quoted Benedict Oramah, president and chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, saying “Algeria’s membership of Afreximbank is momentous.”

“It brings Africa’s fourth largest economy within the Afreximbank family. It creates a platform for Afreximbank’s AfCFTA intervention to be more impactful and paves the way for deeper cooperation between the bank, the Algerian Government, the Algerian Central Bank and Algerian importers and exporters,” Mr Oramah noted.

Mr Oramah explained that the bank looked forward to a successful partnership that would enable Algeria to firmly establish itself as a strong participant in intra-African trade and investments.

Afreximbank is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. It deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, thereby, boosting economic expansion in Africa. 

(NAN)