Phillimon Mhlanga
HARARE-The African Trade Insurance (ATI) Agency chief executive officer, George Otieno, has disclosed that the multilateral investment insurer is ready to support its member countries across the continent, access affordable financing.
The move, Otieno, indicated will help African States, Zimbabwe included, reduce their costs of borrowing and provide an alternative to raising foreign currency debt through bond markets or syndicated loans, which currently accounts for 60 percent of the region’s total public debt.
“The continent is currently searching for African solutions to tackle development challenges such as affordable access to financing,” Otieno said in a statement.
“As a strong African institution, ATI is poised to become a go-to option for African governments,” he added.
ATI, which was established in 2001 by African governments and is registered under the United Nations treaty to provide insurance and promote economic growth in member countries, reported strong financial results for the year 2017, with 55 percent increase in profit. It posted US$9,9 million profit for the year. Its gross premiums went up 52 percent to US$44,8 million during the reviewed period.
AIT said it was on track to pay, for the first time, dividends to shareholders.
Buoyed by continued strong results, the company said was pursuing a strategy to help governments access more affordable financing.
To achieve this, ATI plans to work with more governments to provide a one-stop risk mitigation solution to lenders.
Last year alone, ATI provided insurance cover on a $159 million loan to Ethiopian Airlines to support the carrier’s fleet expansion.
By 2016, ATI had supported $35 billion in trade and investments across Africa in sectors such as agribusiness, energy, housing and infrastructure manufacturing, mining and telecommunications.
