'This is my plea': Exiting Afreximbank chief calls on African banks to close trade finance gap

In a stirring farewell address at the close of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025) in Algiers, outgoing Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah issued an emotional appeal to African financial institutions and trade insurers to urgently support continental trade, declaring the lack of capital and risk mitigation the biggest barriers to integration.

Speaking as the record-breaking trade fair concluded with $48.3 billion in deals signed, Oramah expressed particular frustration at the absence of African development banks, commercial lenders, and credit insurers.

"It is awkward that in this trade fair, apart from Shelter Afrique, I do not see any other African development bank here," he said, his voice laden with conviction.

"We should see here the credit insurance companies. We should see here the trade financial institutions. The commercial banks are here, but they are not deliberate on how we use them."

The moment carried deep symbolism as the Algiers event broke all previous records with 20 heads of state and government, 2,148 exhibitors from 70 countries, and over 100,000 attendees.

Oramah, who transformed Afreximbank into a $33 billion financial pillar of African sovereignty, will this month hand over to Dr George Elombi, a Cameroonian national and nearly 30-year veteran of the bank.

His departure coincides with the arrival of new AfDB leadership—Mauritanian economist Sidi Ould Tah, who assumed the presidency on September 1.

This dual transition spotlights whether Africa's premier financial institutions can align to tackle what Oramah termed the continent's fundamental challenge: "lack of capital to finance projects and to finance the trade, as well as the ability to manage the risks."

Under Oramah, Afreximbank pioneered financial sovereignty—bypassing Western markets to raise capital locally, creating its own credit insurance when global firms retreated, and launching the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). Yet as he noted, the bank cannot close the estimated $100 billion annual trade finance gap alone.

"By the time we get to Lagos 2027," he insisted in reference to the next trade fair, "most of these deals should be done, financed where they need financing."

His words serve as both a legacy and a charge to his successor, Elombi—and a very public invitation to Tah's AfDB and other financial institutions.

As new leaders take charge, the question is whether they will heed Oramah's final wish of making African trade a mission for African capital and African risk management.