The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has released its unaudited financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2020.
According to a statement, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on socio-economic conditions globally, the Bank’s net income rose by 10 per cent, from $137.63 million in June 2019, to $150.75 million in June 2020, mainly as a result of strong growth in net fee and commission income, which rose by 134 per cent.
Net interest income for the period grew by 17 per cent to $285.71 million, up from $243.93 million in 2019. The net interest margin improved from 3.3 per cent to 3.7 per cent, driven by lower costs of funds as interest rates declined globally. Total revenues were strong, rising by 4.4 per cent compared to the first half of 2019, to amount to $519.8million. Fees and commission income supported the growth in revenues, reflecting continuing progress towards achieving the Bank’s goal of diversifying its revenue sources.
Total assets increased by 34 per cent from $14.44 billion as at 31 December 2019 to $19.35 billion as at 30 June 2020, largely driven by a 26 per cent increase in loans to $15.20 billion and a 76 per cent increase in cash and cash equivalents to $3.91 billion. The high liquidity level was in response to the uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It noted that despite the growth in total assets, the Bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio remained strong at 23 per cent in line with the Bank’s capital management policy targets. Commenting on the results, the President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah said: “Our financial performance in the first half of the year was pleasing and demonstrated that we remained focused on delivering value to shareholders even as we pursued the Bank’s development agenda and intensified our support to our continent in its effort to contain the spread of the new coronavirus disease and its devastating economic consequences.”
