Abidjan: The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved financing of pound 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.
According to African Press Organization, the facility will support Cameroon’s economy by facilitating imports of equipment for the industrial, agro-industrial, and telecommunications sectors. Approved during a Board session held on 1 December in Abidjan, the facility will be deployed as a Transaction Guarantee, a Bank Group product that provides risk cover to eligible African banks for their trade finance transactions.
Lamin Drammeh, Head of the Bank Group’s Trade Finance Division, explained that the facility would enable the African Development Bank to provide up to a 100 percent guarantee to confirming banks, facilitating the confirmation of letters of credit and other trade finance instruments issued by CCA-Bank for the benefit
of SMEs in Cameroon.
Léandre Bassolé, Director General of the Bank’s Central Africa region, stated that the operation aligns with the institution’s ambition to increase direct interventions favoring the private sector in Cameroon. The initiative aims to strengthen CCA-Bank’s capacity to support SMEs, including those owned by women and young people, thus boosting the local productive sector, facilitating economic growth, and creating and maintaining thousands of jobs.
Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga, Managing Director of CCA-Bank, welcomed this debut direct financing support from the African Development Bank Group. She expressed gratitude for the important trade finance facility, noting that this strategic partnership marks a major milestone for CCA-Bank and will significantly enhance its capacity to support SMEs, women entrepreneurs, and start-ups in Cameroon and Africa.