Afreximbank ready to lend 10 billion dollars to Dangote for Africa
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on The Namibian
The African Export-Import Bank is ready to make $10 billion available for Aliko Dangote’s projects across the continent, including in Namibia, according to its president George Elombi. The commitment accompanies a $2.5 billion investment in oil storage and a pipeline at Walvis Bay.
The Pan-African export-import bank Afreximbank is ready to make $10 billion (about 165 billion Namibian dollars) available to Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote for his investment projects in Africa, according to The Namibian. Namibia is among the countries targeted by the Dangote group for major infrastructure projects.
According to George Elombi, president of Afreximbank, the bank does not hesitate to finance Dangote because of his track record in major industrial projects and his repayments. “We have no difficulty putting $10 billion on the table for him, because the money would not be lost,” he said. He invites Namibia to identify priority projects that could be financed, by coordinating its economic planning authority, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Namibia.
The announcement was made at the launch, in Walvis Bay, of a Dangote project valued at $2.5 billion (about 41.4 billion Namibian dollars), comprising oil storage of 600 million litres at farm 58, about 10 km east of Walvis Bay, and a regional pipeline. Mr Elombi did not confirm the share of this financing earmarked for Namibia, nor whether the Walvis Bay project already had a loan from Afreximbank. For his part, Aliko Dangote raised his group’s investment ambition in Africa to 50 to 60 billion dollars (about 993 billion Namibian dollars) by 2030. “Give us more opportunities. We want to invest more, to do more with your government,” he said.
