By Marcelle Thomas in Accra, Ghana
Guyana-headquartered New Hayven Merchant Bank yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Accra, Ghana, where among other facilities, it will provide a multi-million dollar credit line to investors in the region.
“This is historic for Guyana and the Caribbean. What this shows is a willingness on the part of Afreximbank to expand their reach beyond the continent [of Africa] and into the Caribbean,” New Hayven Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Floyd Haynes told Stabroek News after yesterday’s signing.
“This opens up so much possibilities for Guyana and the Caribbean region and we are grateful that companies looking for trade financing etcetera, will be able to find that through an agreement which backed up by Afreximbank. New Hayven will screen and motivate qualifying projects for approval,” he added.
Haynes explained that New Hayven will work with the Guyanese private sector and the government to identify business opportunities and projects that will be profitable for investors and contribute to Guyanese growth and development.
“The investments will focus on economically sound businesses and projects that will create manufacturing, agriculture, technology transfer, and service jobs for the people of Guyana and the Caribbean,” he said.
“The object of the partnership is to concretise the proposed collaboration between the Afreximbank and NHMB to develop a pipeline of projects that the Bank can support through the deployment of its various products and services,” the CEO added.
The MoU comes in the backdrop of a US$1.5 billion approval by the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, issued last December for CARICOM member states that have signed on to the agreement.
“Afreximbank has approved an amount of 1.5 billion US dollars to support CARICOM with plans to double that in the near future. We do these not because it is merely a nice thing to do but because a united Africa and the Caribbean represent a more potent force that can confront the exigencies of now and the challenges of tomorrow,” Haynes posited.
Meanwhile, Afrexim-bank President, Benedict Oramah, disclosed that the Bank was also, “working with some African and Caribbean airlines to commence commercial operations between the two regions,” Oramah on Mon-day, told attendees at the bank’s 30th anniversary annual meeting being held at the Accra International Conference Centre.
“A new Middle Passage is emerging; one underpinned by trade, investment, and socio-cultural exchange, correcting the ills of slavery and fragmentation. We are supporting African investors to build ports, roads and power plants in the Caribbean; we are promoting cross acquisition of banks. Afrexim bank is proud to be home to numerous interns from the Caribbean since 2021,” the bank president emphasised.
For his part, The Bahamas Prime Minister, Philip Edward ‘Brave’ Davis, current Chairman of CARICOM, while welcoming the Afrexim Bank initiative, said it gives tangible meaning to the promotion of regional integration.
Following the establishment of the Partnership Agreement, US$1.5 billion in a credit limit was approved by Afrexim-bank’s Board of Directors to support eligible CARICOM States, with a commitment to increase the line of credit to US$3 billion, if all member states sign on. The financing will target supporting economic sectors identified as vital to boosting the region’s prosperity, particularly the development of trade-enabling infrastructure, as well as lifting trade and investments between Africa and the CARICOM Member States while providing support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
In October of last year, President Irfaan Ali oversaw the signing of an agreement for the establishment of a partnership between CARICOM and Afreximbank. The event was held at the Cheddi Jagan International Air-port, Timehri, and was signed by Guyana’s Minis-ter of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, and bank president Oramah. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley was also in Guy-ana and witnessed the signing. The Government of Guyana had said that the agreement aims to facilitate cooperation, support and provide assistance of all types to enable the promotion and financing of South-South trade between African countries and Member States of the Caribbean Community.
Before the signing of the agreement, a Guyanese delegation, led by Ali, and a Barbadian delegation led by Mottley, had met with a team from Afreximbank. Then in April of this year, the bank announced that its Board of Directors had approved the opening of the Bank’s CARICOM Office, to be established in Barbados.
“If we are truly to unite and bring prosperity to our people, a number of things matter. We must come together to create the environment,” Oramah noted then. “I am delighted to announce this important milestone as we forge closer ties with our brothers and sisters in the Carib-bean. There are enormous opportunities to scale the trade and investment flows between the African continent and the broader African diaspora. Invest-ment flows between Africa and the Caribbean are currently almost non-existent. This strategic partnership will open the door for enhanced trade and investment between Africa and the Caribbean. We are poised to right the wrongs of the Middle Passage. This approval is an important step towards that end. The African Export-Import Bank’s profile explains that it is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade.
“At the end of 2022, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$31 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.2 billion. The Bank disbursed more than US$86 billion between 2016 and 2022.
The conference which runs from June 18 to 21, has among its delegates and Heads of State, Prime Minister of The Bahamas and Chairman of CARICOM Phillip Davis, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves. While Guyana did not have a delegation at the conference, Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud told Stabroek News that an investment conference was slated for this country in October where major investment and trade opportunities will be highlighted.
