Bank of China provides $200 million loan to Afreximbank's Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA)

In 2020, Bank of China (BOC) provided a $200 million loan to African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA). The overall purpose of this facility is to assist Afreximbank member countries cope with the financial, economic and health service shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The facility will be available through direct funding, lines of credit, guarantees, cross-currency swaps and other similar instruments. On March 20, 2020, the Afreximbank Board of Directors formally approved PATIMFA. It will serve several purposes: (1) support member country central banks, and other financial institutions to meet trade debt payments that fall due and to avert trade payment defaults; (2) support and stabilize the foreign exchange resources of central banks of member countries, enabling them to support critical imports under emergency conditions; (3) assist member countries whose fiscal revenues are tied to specific export revenues, such as mineral royalties, to manage any sudden fiscal revenue declines as a result of reduced export earnings; and (4) provide emergency trade finance facilities for import of urgent needs to combat the pandemic, including medicine, medical equipment, hospital refitting, etc.

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