Afreximbank recommits to assisting Malawi

Afreximbank president and chairman of the board Benedict Oramah on Sunday reiterated the bank’s commitment to continue assisting in the development of Malawi.

He was speaking in an interview in Accra Ghana after holding a second closed door meeting with President Lazarus Chakwera where he said the bank will continue to support the development aspirations of the country.

Said Oramah: “Malawi and Afreximbank share a long term partnership with Malawi being one of the founding shareholders and participants of the bank. So over the years we have had a good relationship with the bank supporting the country in many ways.

“Right now there are transformative projects and as a bank we are helping in developing two industrial parks one in Lilongwe the other one in Blantyre. We are also assisting with the mega farms programme. We have done all the studies and now we are about to commence works so that was one of the things we discussed.”

He said these projects will be starting soon following President Chakwera’s directive to make the projects come to light very quickly so that they create jobs and help in stabilising the country’s economy.

Oramah added that the bank will also assist the country in searching for investors who will help in the development of mega farms which are one of President Chakwera’s flagship programmes.

“We are also working on mega farms projects which are initiatives of the Government of Malawi. We are working with the government to bring in investors to develop those large farms towards achieving food security in the country,” he said.

Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said all was set for the rolling out of the farms following the bank’s commitment to finance the programme.

“Over the couple of months after meeting in Egypt we have been discussing with the bank to help us in the development of the mega farms in Malawi, a couple of areas first with feasibility studies to ensure that we have enough land to go into mega farms,” he said.