EBID Secures $130m Funding To Curb Trade Financing Gap in Africa As per the latest news, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has revealed a dual-currency trade finance credit line worth around $ 130 million. The funding will be utilized critically to upgrade food security and build up agricultural value chains across West Africa, the AfDB stated in the declaration issued. The granted funds acknowledge the first time it has secured financial support from the African Development Bank (AfDB) which was honored with “Best Multilateral Financial Institution 2021” by Global Finance. The AfDB is facilitating $ 50 million and €50 million to the three-and-a-half-year facility, while the People’s Bank of China is giving a further US$ 30 million through Africa Growing Together Fund - a solution provided by the Chinese central bank yet managed by the AFDB. According to the AfDB’s head of trade finance, Lamin Drammeh, “Working with the EBID should assist with further developing its access to trade finance in the Ecowas area, which consists of 15 West African nations.” Read more: https://www.emeriobanque.com/news/ebid-secures-130-m-dollar-funding-to-curb-trade-financing-gap-in-africa #ECOWASBank #AfDB #tradefinance #tradefinancegap #SMEs #EBID #GlobalFinance

How Investing In Trade Finance Can Help SMEs Uplift? 1. The trade finance gap has reached $1.7 trillion, excessively affecting small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 2. New technologies can have a vital role in transforming trade finance assets into profitable market products. 3. A multitasker approach is essential to ensure the easy accessibility of trade finance instruments for SMEs. Trade acts as an accelerator that gives a boost to a country’s economy, 80-90% of international trade requires financing out of which, around 90% of the organizations are owned by SMEs and over half of the jobs globally according to the World Bank. Generally, these are the SMEs that are underserved and lack reasonable trade finance. One thing is clear: unless SMEs are capable of executing trade transactions with the support of financing, the economy cannot improve. According to the latest report issued by Asian Development Bank (ADB), SMEs are adversely affected by the $1.7 trillion trade finance gap ie. the difference between the number of trade finance applications by SMEs involved in global transactions and the number of approvals. As per the data, SMEs face 40% of these rejections which is quite higher than their share of applications. In this regard, ADB partnered with Seabank to expand trade finance in Vietnam. Read more: https://www.emeriobanque.com/news/investing-in-trade-finance-can-help-smes-uplift #tradefinancegap #tradetransactions #SMEs #tradefinanceservices #blockchaintechnology

Citi eyes Africa supply chain finance boost with support from British International Investment Citi has signed a risk-sharing deal with British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, as part of plans to increase its supply chain finance volumes in Africa. The US$100mn master guarantee facility will see BII – which was formerly known as the CDC Group before a rebrand this year – act as a guarantor for supply chain finance facilities provided by Citi to SME suppliers and underserved segments, with the bank saying that it will be able to increase its annual SCF volumes in the continent by up to US$400mn as a result. BII and Citi have agreed to set impact criteria to ensure that flexible capital is being directed toward underserved groups, women-owned businesses and enterprises targeted by the South African government’s Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment programme, which encourages businesses to integrate black people in the workplace, support black businesses, and give back to black communities affected by land repossession. Read more: https://ngulminthanglhanghal.wordpress.com/2022/05/20/citi-eyes-africa-supply-chain-finance-boost-with-support-from-british-international-investment/ #NgulminthangLhanghal #finance #BritishInternational #Investment #CDC Group #ChrisCox #Citi #SMEs #SupplyChainFinance #TradeFinanceGap

Africa: Trade finance and the efforts to boost intra-African trade In brief Over the last ten years, Africa’s trade growth has been one of the worst among the major global regions, mostly due to falling commodity prices, competition, inadequate foreign exchange liquidity, regulatory challenges and access to trade finance. Although trade finance remains a popular activity among banks, the participation rates have decreased. Despite this persistently large trade finance gap, trade remains a key driver of Africa’s social and economic development. As a result, development finance institutions such as the African Development Bank and the African Export-Import Bank have sought to provide solutions to boost intra-Africa trade. In Depth ​As stated by the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi A. Adesina, "trade finance is an important instrument for influencing Africa's long-term economic development and structural transformation". According to a report by the AfDB and the African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim), Trade Finance in Africa: Trends Over the Past Decade and Opportunities Ahead, the region was one of the most integrated with the rest of the world in 2011. However, in the last decade, Africa’s trade growth has been one of the worst among the major regions of the world. This is as a result of a number of factors including falling commodity prices, competition, inadequate foreign exchange liquidity, regulatory challenges and access to trade finance, as banks have gradually been scaling back activities from riskier markets. The study showed that although trade finance remains a popular activity among banks in Africa, the participation rates continue to decrease, falling by 16% between 2013 and 2019. As a result, the trade finance gap in Africa averaged USD 91 billion for the period between 2011 to 2019. Furthermore, the trade uncertainty in Africa was exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a twin supply-demand shock across the continent. Supply was affected by mass production shutdowns and supply chain blockages and demand for products from Africa decreased globally. Read more: https://ngulminthang.weebly.com/news/africa-trade-finance-and-the-efforts-to-boost-intra-african-trade Follow: https://ngulminthangl.tumblr.com/ #AfCFTA #tradefinancegap #AfricanDevelopmentBank #Tradefinance #NgulminthangLhanghal #Ngulminthang

Fintechs Becoming The New Lines Of Credit Small businesses have been suffering from the trade finance gap since the world plunged into the Covid-19 pandemic. And to save them from this problem, fintech has become the right platform to unlock access to finance. The Fintech platform acts as a marketplace for small and medium enterprises to access trade receivable financing. According to the Co-founder and Chief Executive of Invoice Financing Marketplace Incomlend, Morgan Terigi, it is becoming a lucrative platform that allows investors to provide new credit lines to struggling business houses. Through fintech platforms like Incomlend, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, institutional investors are all starting to offer new credit lines to small businesses. The credit lines have become a lifesaver for small businesses as Covid-19 has increased the cost of the entire logistics chain. Businesses require extra money to accommodate basic logistical activities like providing transportation for their products. Read more: https://www.emeriobanque.com/news/fintechs-becoming-the-new-lines-of-credit #tradefinancegap #FinancingMarketplace #fintechplatforms #supplychain #tradefinance #fintechindustry