By John Oyuke
The PTA Bank received over Sh7 billion in the first quarter of this year from its key international financing partners.
The most recent funding came from the OPEC Fund for International Development (Ofid), which gave $20 million for lending to the bank’s trade finance customers.
President of PTA Bank Mr Michael Gondwe and Mr Suleiman Al-Herbish, Director General of Ofid signed the agreement in Vienna last week. Gondwe said the facility, the first one to the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank from OPEC Fund, "will go a long way in boosting the Bank’s ability to fund trade finance transactions."
"We are having increasingly new demand for trade finance from our member states, especially for fertiliser and petroleum imports, and therefore the demand for financing is also immense," he observed.
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More funds
The OPEC Fund signing was followed by another $20 million facility from the Standard Chartered Bank and PTA Bank in London.
The funds will be loaned to customers in various sectors of the bank’s member states.
Late last month, a consortium of international lenders led by the FMO, the international Development Bank of Netherlands signed a facility agreement of $50 million with the PTA Bank.
The facility will be used for on lending to Small and Medium sized corporate clients.
"We are seeing that following our good rating from Fitch Ratings, many more international banks are willing to do business with us, since the rating serves as an independent evaluation of our performance," Gondwe disclosed in a statement.
Fitch Ratings, one of the top three international rating agencies, has assigned the PTA Bank a BB- (double B minus), a higher rating than that of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa countries rated by the agency.
The $50 million facility has been arranged by FMO, which carries $20 million of the total facility, while the rest is sourced from European financiers.
Other European financiers including the European Investment Bank put in $30 million.
Growth of economies
Gondwe attributed the increase in the Bank’s current lending activities to the rapid growth of regional economies.
"Cumulatively, the bank has extended over $5.6 billion (Sh430 billion) in terms of project and trade finance approvals since inception.
Gondwe said the PTA Bank has also been very active in assisting countries import key commodities such as petroleum and fertilisers, both of which are key drivers of economic growth.
"A number of tourism facilities in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi have been put up with the support of the Bank’s financing" Gondwe said.
In Kenya, the PTA Bank is synonymous with the rescue of Uchumi Supermarkets.
Together with KCB, the bank restructured loans granted to the chain of supermarkets following its collapse on the back of massive debts.
