African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), last week donated US$1.5 million in support of relief to the Cyclone Idai victims in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The bank sent its delegates led by Executive Vice President in charge of Governance, Legal and Corporate Services Dr. George Elombi to the Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi embassies in Egypt, Cairo.
Elombi told the envoys that Afreximbank would support the country financially and infrastructurally to help recover from the cyclone damage wrought by disaster according to the bank’s press release.
The Afreximbank Vice President also said that given the significant financial requirements that would be involved in rebuilding the damaged infrastructure in the affected countries, Afreximbank would do its utmost to provide support to the governments once the areas of need had been identified.
During the visits, Zimbabwe Ambassador to Egypt Chris Mapanga told the Afreximbank delegation that roads across Zimbabwe were still impassable and that the country was in a state of economic strangulation, with pipelines closed and measures still being taken to divert resources.
With Zimbabwe road closed, a plane from the European Union was used to send some of the aid needed in Cyclone Idai affected areas around the country.
“All of the horticultural industry, the major railway line and the economy, overall, was heavily affected,” Mapanga said.
The Zimbabwean ambassador expressed a deep appreciation for Afreximbank’s “proactiveness and willingness to assist the country in its time of need.
The Mozambique ambassador to Egypt Acacio Dinis Chacate said the donation by Afreximbank came at the right time and that his nation was deeply touched by the goodwill, thoughts and assurances.
The ambassador said that there was a lot of work to be done in Mozambique and the pledged that the government would ensure the bank’s assistance reached the families in need.
