The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has earmarked USD 3.9 bn (EGP 62.3 bn) for Egypt to mitigate COVID-19 fallout and stimulate trade with the rest of the continent, Invest-Gate reports.

Afreximbank has disbursed USD 3.55 bn (EGP 56.68 bn) to Egypt’s banking sector, under its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA), coupled with a USD 250,000 (EGP 4 mn) grant to the government to support COVID-19 relief efforts, the regional lender revealed in a recent press release.

“Moreover, in its bid to strengthen long-term economic prosperity in the region, the bank has also provided USD 300 mn (EGP 4.79 bn) to the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) to support activities aimed at expanding intra-African trade,” read the statement.

The fund will support NBE’s operational expansion through investment and trade in Africa. It will also boost its Egypt-Africa Trade business, which intends to increase its support for regional trade from USD 85 mn (EGP 1.34 bn) in 2020 to USD 125 mn (EGP 2 bn) two years later, it further stated.

Meanwhile, credit facilities under the PATIMFA program will contribute to prevent disruptions in trade and avert defaults, said Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah, adding, “Egypt has been a regional banking powerhouse for more than a century and will play a vital role in expanding intra-Africa trade, as the continent recovers from the pandemic and reaps the benefits of the African Continental FreeTrade Area.”

Since the start of the outbreak, the North African country has been securing a broad range of emergency aids to overcome the crisis, including the most recent EGP 14.6 bn loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for NBE to bolster small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mitigating the Coronavirus disruptions, according to an earlier statement.