The African Export-Import Bank has approved a $10 billion Gulf Crisis Response Program designed to help African and Caribbean economies, as well as their banks and businesses, cope with the severe economic shocks caused by the conflict in the Middle East, the bank announced on Tuesday (7).
The support program was designed, among other objectives, to sustain essential imports—including fuel, LNG, food, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals—by providing foreign exchange and short-term liquidity to support the most vulnerable member states.
It also aims to help African energy and mineral exporters capitalize on high prices and redirected trade flows by increasing production capacity for strategic raw materials.
The program will provide short-term relief to African and Caribbean member states whose tourism and aviation industries have been negatively affected.
It is also intended to strengthen, in the medium and long term, the resilience of economies to future shocks by accelerating the completion of critical energy, port, and logistics projects whose implementation has been delayed by the conflict.
Source: Reuters
