To boost West and Central Africa regional trade, Afreximbank grants $20 million facility to Innoson Group

 

Dr. Benedict Oramah, Afreximbank Executive Vice President (right), exchanges documents with Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Executive Chairman, Innoson Technical and Industrial Company Ltd., after the signing ceremony.

 

Cairo, 20 Feb. 2014 – In a transaction aimed at giving a substantial boost to regional trade across West and Central Africa, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has provided a credit facility worth $20 million to Nigeria-based industrial giant, Innoson Technical and Industrial Company (ITIC) Limited, for the purchase of inputs for production of plastic goods.

ITIC, the biggest manufacturer of plastic products in Nigeria, which makes plastic chairs, tables, trays, plates, spoons, cups, jerry cans and other allied products, will use the credit facility to purchase raw materials from China and from the Eleme Petro Chemical Plant in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to be turned into finished plastic goods for sale in Nigeria and across West and Central Africa using a network of distributors.

At today’s signing ceremony at the Afreximbank Headquarters in Cairo, Dr. Benedict Oramah, the Bank’s Executive Vice President in charge of Business Development and Corporate Banking, said that the transaction was a landmark as it reflected Afreximbank’s commitment to supporting indigenous manufacturing efforts across Africa.

It also demonstrated Afreximbank’s continued support to a major shareholder, Nigeria, in the belief that a stronger Nigeria would contribute to a stronger Africa, said Dr. Oramah, who noted that Afreximbank disburses more than one billion dollars annually to the Nigerian private sector to deepen and broaden the manufacturing base.

Responding, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Executive Chairman of ITIC, said that with the Nigerian economy being one of the fastest growing in Africa and with significant investments flowing in from international investors who were convinced about the strong promise of the country, the Afreximbank facility would position the Innoson Group to achieve its determination to be a key part of Nigeria’s future.

He noted that, in addition to ITIC, the Group also operated the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, which currently produces 300 vehicles a month, but plans to raise output to 600 vehicles per month by the middle of 2014. He expressed the hope that Afreximbank would partner with the Group to add even greater value to the vehicle manufacturing operation.

“We are determined to do more and to achieve more, as we look forward to even greater strides in the Nigerian economy,” said Chief Chukwuma. “We see Afreximbank not just as a lender but as a development partner”