Cameroon: African Development Bank Group approves €25 million trade finance facility to enable Crédit Communautaire d’Afrique-Bank expand support to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved financing of €25 million to help Cameroon’s Crédit Communautaire d’Afrique-Bank (CCA-Bank) expand its trade finance offerings to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other businesses.

The facility, approved at a Board session held on 1 December in Abidjan, will be deployed as a Transaction Guarantee (https://apo-opa.co/4pMGlTC), a Bank Group product that provides risk cover to eligible African banks for their trade finance transactions.

“The facility will support Cameroon’s economy by facilitating imports of equipment for the industrial, agro-industrial and telecommunications sectors. It will also enable the African Development Bank to provide up to a 100 percent guarantee to confirming banks, to facilitate the confirmation of letters of credit and other similar trade finance instruments issued by CCA-Bank for the benefit of SMEs in Cameroon,” explained Lamin Drammeh, Head of the Bank Group’s Trade Finance Division.

Léandre Bassolé, Director General of the Bank’s Central Africa region, emphasised that the operation was in line with the institution’s ambition to increase its direct interventions in favour of the private sector in Cameroon. “It will strengthen CCA-Bank’s capacity to support the activities of SMEs, including those owned by women and young people, to boost the local productive sector, facilitate economic growth, and create and maintain thousands of jobs,” he said.

Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga, Managing Director of CCA-Bank, welcomed this debut direct financing support from the African Development Bank Group: “We would like to express our gratitude to the African Development Bank Group for this important trade finance facility. This strategic partnership marks a major milestone for our institution and will significantly strengthen our capacity to support small and medium-sized enterprises, women entrepreneurs and start-ups in Cameroon and Africa.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Media contact:
Alexis Adélé
Communications and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org

About the AfDB Transaction Guarantee: 
The Transaction Guarantee is a trade finance instrument put in place by the African Development Bank to support commercial banks in Africa. It was launched in 2021 and covers a variety of trade finance instruments, including confirmed letters of credit, commercial loans, irrevocable repayment undertakings, endorsed drafts and promissory notes, among others. The facility is available to all banks registered and operating in Africa that have passed the African Development Bank’s due diligence process.

About the African Development Bank Group: 
The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s leading development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). Represented in 41 African countries, with a field office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org