The efforts of Mauritania to diversify its economy have received a great boost. This followed the announcement by the African Export-Import Bank, Afrexim Bank, of its plan to invest up to $1.5 billion in fishing, mining and financial projects in Mauritania. Officials of the mineral-rich North African desert nation are now blushing.
Afrexim Bank, which has its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, was set up by African countries in 1993 to promote and finance trade within the African continent and trade between Africa and other continents.
The Afrexim Bank President, Okey Oramah, who spoke to newsmen in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday, said that the money was being earmarked for infrastructure projects and the private sector and banks, in particular. The Mauritanian government has been widely acclaimed for nurturing economic growth. World Bank officials declared recently that the government’s attention to rural development has helped to reduce poverty in the country.
According to the Nigerian-born Afrexim Bank boss, Okey Oramah, about $1 billion would be spent on fishing ports, energy infrastructure, industrial parks and the processing of different raw materials.
He also announced that $500 million would be set aside as credit lines for Mauritanian commercial banks, recalling that the bank already provided credit lines of $400 million to Mauritanian banks in the 1990s.
