–when all 15 countries come on board, Afreximbank Regional COO says

OKECHUKWU IHEJIRIKA, the Regional Chief Operations Officer (COO) for CARICOM at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), has stated that expressions of investment in the Caribbean region are set to expand to around US$3 billion.

Ihejirika revealed this information in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle. The discussion arose when he was questioned about concrete manifestations of investment in the Caribbean region subsequent to the second edition of the Africaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF), which took place in Guyana last year.
He stated that Afreximbank is leading from the front in this regard even as some US$1.5 billion was initially approved for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region; however, this is expected to grow into US$3 billion when all CARICOM countries join in.

“So that’s the first level of expressions of investment and under this limit we have only started booking deals but we have approved a couple of these which has already been disbursed and there are others that have been approved that are maybe finalising documentation for disbursement,” he added.
The Regional COO reported that there is an estimated value of around US$2 billion in deals currently being pursued, stemming from multiple trade and investment missions to CARICOM.

Meanwhile, as he highlighted this, he noted that the upcoming ACTIF set for next week brings the possibility for what is called twinning.
“So, we see Caribbean entities who want to partner with African [entities] that get twinned and then we provide financing. So, we are even looking at it that after this event we are going to have a lot more deals that we have to go back to our board to consider,” Ihejirika added.
At the end of last year’s ACTIF, it was announced that Guyana is expected to secure US$500 million in funding from the Afreximbank to support the country’s ongoing infrastructure drive.
Concurrently, it was announced that the establishment would provide a loan of US$16 million to St. Lucia in order to facilitate the restoration of schools that were damaged by a tropical storm on the island.