Afreximbank’s total balance sheet hits US$30.1bn

African Export-Import Bank as well as its subsidiaries have posted a total balance sheet of US$30.1billion as of June 30 2023.

The indicator grew by 8% from US$27.9billion as of 31 December 2022 (FY-2022) to approximately US$30.1billion as of 30 June 2023.

The growth was driven by increase in loans and advances to customers, which grew by 13% to close the period at US$26billion. The liquidity position remained strong at US$3billion, representing 11% of total assets and achieving a Liquidity Coverage ratio of 310%.

Due to increased volume of interest-earning assets, particularly loans and advances and higher interest rates, total interest income recorded a strong growth of 107.1% to reach US$1.1billion for the half-year (H1-2023) period compared to US$540.8million for the same period in 2022.

Net interest income amounted to US$663.6million, up 76% from the prior year – mainly due to continuous effective management of interest expenses.  Net Interest Margin as a result increased to 4.77% compared with 3.47% last year.

The Group’s shareholders’ funds rose by 7.63% to US$5.6billion as of 30 June 2023 compared to FY-2022. The growth was largely attributable to the US$261million fresh equity contributions from existing and new shareholders who have supported the ongoing General Capital Increase exercise, which aims to raise US$2.6billion paid-in equity by 2026.  In addition, the growth in shareholders’ funds was also underpinned by US$125.5million internally generated net earnings after taking into account the approved dividend and other appropriations which amounted to US$209million.

According to Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President in charge of Finance, Administration and Banking Services, Mr. Denys Denya, the bank delivered a strong set of results driven largely by a focused execution of its mandate as a countercyclical lender which generated increased volume of interest-earning assets, particularly loans and advances, and benefitted from a rising interest rate environment.

He has emphasised that the bank continued to make progress on its strategy implementation, carefully balancing the need to be profitable and sustainable while maintaining sufficient liquidity, capital, and a quality portfolio of assets.

He further highlighted that despite continued challenges caused by the Ukraine crisis, ongoing geo-political tensions and persistently high inflation, the half-year period saw some headwinds receding; including relatively lower energy and food prices, reduced supply bottlenecks and the re-opening of China – Africa’s biggest trading partner.

Mr. Denya pointed out that Global Credit Rating (GCR) and Japanese Credit Rating (JCR) respectively affirmed Afreximbank’s international scale long- and short-term issuer ratings of A/A2 and A-, with a ‘Stable’ outlook, while Moody’s maintained the bank’s credit rating at Baa1. In addition, African Banker recently bestowed on Afreximbank the 2023 African Bank of the Year and DFI of the Year awards in recognition of its contributions to the continent’s trade and development.

Significant progress was made during first-half of the year, with the bank’s subsidiary FEDA generating profit after only two years of operation; and AfrexInsure generated premium income on assets valued at over US$2billion.

“We began the second-half of 2023 well, and are confident that Afreximbank’s strong financial position will provide a solid base for the Group to continue assisting its clients and African countries in expanding trade and investments; meet trade finance obligations; boost production – especially of food and export value added products; as well as alleviate supply chain constraints and enable the continent to adapt sustainably to the challenging effects of climate change,” he concluded.

Highlights of results for the Group are shown below: