African Export-Import Bank says its net interest income grew by 4.53 per cent to $411.2 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to the previous year.

This was announced in a statement on Wednesday on the financial statements of the bank and its subsidiaries for Q1 2025.

The increase was driven by growth in interest-earning assets, complemented by effective management of borrowing costs, and helped the bank cushion the marginal decline in total interest income due to softening benchmark rates, said the statement.

According to Afreximbank, fee income from guarantees and letters of credit saw a robust growth of 47 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively.

“This partially offset lower advisory fees to contribute to the total unfunded income of 26.9 million dollars for Q1 2025. While this represented a 7.41 per cent decrease from 29.0 million dollars in Q1 2024, the strong performance in Off-balance sheet assets is in line with the bank’s strategy to grow unfunded business,” the bank said.

The bank posted a net income of $215 million, a 21 per cent increase year-on-year from $178 million recorded in the prior period. Its total assets and contingent liabilities increased by 6.4 per cent, reaching $42.7 billion as of  March 31, up from $40.1 billion in 2024.

On-balance sheet assets grew by 4.85 per cent to $37.0 billion, which was driven primarily by a 58 per cent surge in cash balances to $7.4 billion. Off-balance sheet assets, letters of credit and guarantee volumes increased by 19 per cent to reach $5.7 billion at the end of Q1 2025.

Net loans and advances closed at $27.8 billion in Q1 2025, down from the 2024 closing position.

The bank noted that this reflects early repayments from certain customers because of the improved foreign currency balance position of some sovereign borrowers.

(NAN)