Rich pickings for Caribbean nations as ACTIF2023 ends

The second AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2023), which ended in Georgetown, Guyana, on Tuesday will leave some of CARICOM members all smiles after they secured some funding for various projects in the region.
The Caribbean community could be smiling all the way to the bank after Afreximbank availed facilities to countries as it cements ties between Africa and the region.

The second AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2023), which ended in Georgetown, Guyana, on Tuesday will leave some of CARICOM members all smiles after they secured some funding for various projects in the region.

On Tuesday, Afreximbank entered into an agreement to provide a US$30m term loan facility to the Bahamas Development Bank (BDB) to bolster its trade finance operations and provide essential support to indigenous business organisations in The Bahamas.

Under the terms of the loan contract, which will be finalised with the Bahamian Ministry of Finance, BDB will direct the facility toward providing improved access to trade finance solutions to Bahamian businesses exporting to, or importing from, other Caribbean countries.

The facility was signed by Kanayo Awani, executive vice president Intra-African Trade Bank, Afreximbank, and Nicholas Higgs, BDB’s managing director.

Awani said the recapitalisation of the BDB and focusing on trade finance and SME support, the bank was not “just investing in financial resources”, but in the “prosperity, resilience and growth of the nation of The Bahamas”.

The initiative, she said, underscored commitment to empowering businesses, stimulating trade, and driving economic sustainability in The Bahamas.

Higgs said the windfall underscored the commitment by the Prime Minister Prime Philip Davis’s administration to “building meaningful international partnerships and driving micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise development across all islands of The Bahamas”.

Barbados, which is set to co-host ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next year, received a major boost. Barbados-based Kensington Oval Management Inc. (KOMI) signed an agreement with Afreximbank in which the trade finance bank would provide a US$25m term loan facility for the rehabilitation and maintenance of sports infrastructure required for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Under the terms of the agreement, KOMI will use the proceeds of the loan, which carries a seven-year tenure, to rehabilitate the infrastructure—the Kensington Oval—ahead of the Cricket World Cup scheduled to take place from June 4 to 30, 2024. The loan is advanced under Afreximbank’s Sports Financing Programme.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the loan would contribute to the further development of cricket in the region and will facilitate the establishment of indoor cricket facilities, which would enable Caribbean cricketers to closely analyse and improve their skills to compete on the field.

“This region must give our cricketers the best available coaching and technology if they are to be able to resume their global position in cricket,” she said.

Oramah said the rehabilitation and maintenance of the sports infrastructure will foster economic growth, cultural exchange, and community development by ensuring the effective hosting of the Cricket World Cup.

Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah said the Cricket World Cup would increase tourism income and stimulate growth among various service providers in the tourism industry, while the newly renovated and fully functional infrastructure at Kensington Oval will also continue to host a wide range of sporting events in the future, attracting athletes and enthusiasts from around the world.

ACTIF2023 hosts Guyana are eyeing a bigger slice of the cake with the Caribbean nation in talks with Afreximbank for a US$500m windfall.

Saint Lucia got a US$6m climate linked sovereign term loan to repair some infrastructure in the education sector that was destroyed by tropical storm that destroyed schools.

Saint Lucia Prime Minister Joseph Pierre said the facility was timely and would help repair damaged infrastructure to enable children to go back to school.

Nigerian-headquartered bank Access Bank, Afreximbank and the Fund for Export Development in Africa signed a memorandum of understanding to mobilise US$220m to invest in the CARICOM financial sector.

Afreximbank opened a Caribbean office in Barbados in August 2023 and has a US$1,5bn envelope for the Caribbean nations. This will double to US$3bn once all the CARICOM countries have signed the Afreximbank partnership agreement. Eleven out of 15 countries from the bloc have signed the agreement.-newday