SA joins Afreximbank, unlocking R128 billion in funding

South Africa has officially acceded to the Establishment Agreement of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), becoming its 54th member state.

Afreximbank is launching a Country Programme of just over 128.5 billion rand ($8 billion) aligned with the National Development Plan 2030 and the country's industrial priorities.

Once finalised, the Programme will be operationalised through a finance package that will initially support a range of strategic projects across the trade and industrial cluster.

Delivering the keynote address at the accession signing ceremony in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted South Africa’s vision for industrialisation, export diversification, decarbonisation, and digitisation.

Stephen Grootes interviews the Acting Deputy Director General of Exports at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), Willem van der Spuy.

The overall programme will aim to inject capital into priority industrial projects and support export diversification, as well as infrastructure development, van der Spuy says.

He also highlights support for transformation initiatives, which will be done through the Bank's Inclusive Development Support Programme.

About R48 billion ($3 billion) will go towards the Transformation Fund, to address structural barriers that have historically excluded many South Africans from participating in trade and industrialisation, as President Ramaphosa put it.

"It will look at allocating funding for projects that enable black businesses and entrepreneurs to access finance and participate in strategic sectors of our economy", van der Spuy explains.

Scroll up to the audio player to hear more detail from the dtic's Willem van der Spuy