By Thompson ABISOLA
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on Friday released its unaudited financial statements for the nine months ended Sept. 30, with a gross income of 546.6million dollars.
The bank’s President, Dr Benedict Oramah, in a statement by the Head of Media, Mr Obi Emekekwue, said that the income was 14.3 per cent higher than 2017 performance.
He said the bank also recorded a net income of 172.4 million dollars during the period, which was 11.9 per cent higher than 2017 record.
Emekekwue said: “The financial statements released in Cairo today, showed that the bank’s total assets stood at 12 billion dollars; loans and advances at 9.5 billion dollars (+14.2 per cent from 2017).
“The return on average assets stood at 1.9 per cent; return on average equity at 10.3 per cent and capital adequacy ratio at 23 per cent.
“The balance sheet also remained solid with shareholder funds growing by 11 per cent since December 31, 2017 to reach 2.36 billion dollars.
“We had a Non-Performing Loan (NPL) coverage ratio of 145 per cent (compared to 141 per cent for the same period in 2017) and NPL ratio of 2.5 per cent (versus 2.4 per cent in 2017).
“The proportion of non-interest/gross income stood at 11 per cent (versus 4 per cent in 2017) and net interest margin was 3.1 per cent (versus 2.8 per cent in 2017).’’
According to Oramah, the results reflected the continuing successful implementation of the Bank’s five-year strategic plan, “Impact 2021”.
He said that the plan emphasised “Improving Intra-Africa Trade; Facilitating Industrialisation and Export Development; Strengthening Trade Finance Leadership and Improving Financial Soundness and Performance.
He said that the results reaffirmed the bank’s transition to normal operations, with growing loan book and improving interest margins.
Oramah said that the pursuit of medium-term strategy had led to higher operating expenses driven by staff costs and one-off general expenses relating to ongoing initiatives.
He said that the bank’s Intra-African Trade Strategy, such as the Intra-African Trade Fair being held in collaboration with the African Union, underpinned the expected growth in trade finance.
The president said it also buttressed growth in project finance and advisory services in the short to medium-term.
He announced that Afreximbank was planning a secondary listing of its depositary receipts in order to improve liquidity and access to diversified investor base.
“It had also explored alternative sources of funding the balance sheet and deployed excess cash holdings to finance loans with better interest margins.
“It is developing an African payment platform to facilitate Intra-African trade and to help mitigate the challenge posed by low access to international foreign exchange,’’ Oramah said.
