Ghana EXIM Bank has announced that it is seeking funding from the country’s development partners and investors to support more local firms exploring new markets.
The move has been influenced by recent global trade tariffs that have affected some Ghanaian exporters.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Exim Bank Ghana, Mr Sylvester Mensah announced this when he spoke to Joy Business in Washington DC on the sidelines of the International Monitory Fund (IMF), World Bank spring meetings.
“On the sidelines of the IMF -World Bank spring meetings, if we were sufficient enough on our own to manage some of these funding, I’m sure we would have remained in Accra.
“We are here to make our case to some of our partners who have agreed that this forum would offer a better opportunity for us to have enough time to go into some of these conversations. And so it is one of the reasons we are here and we’ve had a couple of meetings. But, the prospects are more likely from the Afrexim bank, which is an African export and import bank, and we are still exploring other engagements,” Mr. Mensah popularly referred to as Sly stated.
According to him, his outfit has had a lot of engagements with its development partners and investors, hoping these will yield positive results.
He explained that the ultimate objective is to have enough funding to support some key projects that the government of Ghana has outlined.
GEXIM Bank is the principal export Finance institution of the Government of Ghana.
It was established by The Ghana Export-Import Bank Act 2016 (Act 911) to bolster the government’s quest for a feasible and sustainable export-led economy.
Ghana, Mr Sylvester Mensah stated, needed policy frameworks and economic relations with its partners, particularly with the United States to stimulate economic growth.
“I’m happy to say that I was in the US before the bill on Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) was passed. As a Member of Parliament, I had the occasion of meeting with the Black Congressional Caucus of the US and discussing the whole concept of AGOA before it was finally passed.
“I think that we need that a lot more today than perhaps in the past. It is now that perhaps the sub region is waking up to the prospects of AGOA. It is now that we see the global shift in business, manufacturing, particularly in the textile garment, and the upper sector,” he stated.
AGOA was passed to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the United States and the region.
Mr. Sylvester Mensah noted that this is the time AGOA would be more relevant to Africans.
