The new President of Afreximbank, George Elombi, says that the bank is now focused on turning the continent’s raw materials into finished goods.
Accordingly, the bank is partnering with the Ogun State government to drive fabric-processing finance in line with its objective of turning raw materials into finished goods.
“No more Nigerian bauxite, or Gabonese manganese, or Cameroonian bauxite, or South African bauxite, raw. We are not interested. We will focus on domestic processing. This has numerous benefits,” Elombi said.
He reiterated that his administration will focus on developing strategic industries that can drive industrialisation and job creation.
“Afreximbank will therefore create a new high-impact financing window, specifically for projects that process raw minerals into semi-finished goods or finished goods,” he added. According to him, the bank intends to establish a strategic minerals development programme that will process and finance entire value chains, from extraction and refining to manufacturing finished components.