AfDB Grants pound 70 Million Financing Facility to Morocco’s Bank of Africa to Promote African Trade

Abidjan - The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group approved a pound 70-million financing facility for Bank of Africa Maroc (BOA) to promote African trade.The package comprises a 50 million euro Risk Participation Agreement (RPA) and a 20 million euro Trade Finance Line of Credit (TFLOC), explains the AfDB in a press release.'The African Development Bank, rated AAA by the biggest rating agencies, unites with Morocco's Bank of Africa to improve access to trade financing in Africa, by supporting mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in States in transition,' stressed Ahmed Attout, AfDB's Director of the Financial Sector Development Department, quoted in the press release.'We are delighted with this first partnership with BOA, a leading African stakeholder, in Morocco and on the Continent. Together ,we will strengthen the financial inclusion of small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in foreign trade, to help them expand more widely,' said Achraf Hassan Tarsim, head of the AfDB country office.The RPA will provide Bank of Africa with the opportunity to further support the Continent's local banks in their international operations, which are increasingly faced with a decline in financing and confirmation lines with their foreign correspondents, says the AfDB.The TFLOC will also facilitate access to financing for Moroccan small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the key sectors of health, agriculture, the pharmaceutical and automotive industries, and transport, adds the same source.The facility is expected to catalyze nearly pound 300 million of trade over a period of three and a half years, noting that the broader aim of this cooperation is to strengthen the countries' productive diversification and competitiveness, create additional tax revenues and generate new employment opportunities, stresses the press release.Source: Agence Marocaine De Presse