THE African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) has come up with a number of proposals geared at reducing financing charges to help government attract more investments.
The proposals leverage on enabling economies to low financing charges by between 2.0 and 3.0 million US dollars for long term projects which most governments in Africa are struggling to rise.
ATI Director, Godfrey Simbeye said under the proposed scheme, before a government approaches the international market with a borrowing request, ATI provide a ‘ credit wrap’ on the request, which in turn trigger a reduction in the financing charges.
“ATI is therefore well positioned to provide a link to international markets that will benefit Tanzania and other governments,” Mr Simbeye, who is also the Executive Director of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation, said.
Tanzania is a founder member of the ATI, a multilateral and pan-African institution providing investment and credit guarantees to help member governments attract investments.
“ATI has grown into a powerful partner that is respected by African governments as well as international financial institutions,” the Director said.
Mr Simbeye is Tanzania’s representative on ATI’s Board of Directors. ATI has already helped several West African member countries under the proposed initiative.
The latest helped was Benin and Cô te d’Ivoire to obtain close to 1.0 billion US dollars financing with lowsingle digits rate for 10 to 12 years.
These terms have historically been off limits for most African governments as a result of the region’s high risk profile, which has led to a shortage of credit insurance.
ATI bridges this gap by providing these required guarantees to its members along with the credibility of its S& P and Moody’s investment grade ratings.
In the last five years in Tanzania, ATI has supported overall investments, which includes the Standard Gauge Railway project.
ATI Resident Underwriter Tanzania, Tusekile Kibonde said ATI was now among the top DFIs working in Africa.
“We achieved this status based solely on the valuable partnerships we have formed over the years with our member governments,” Ms Kibonde said.
NMB Head of Trade Finance, Linda Tegissa said the bank was committed to support the government’s development plans in a sustainable manner through innovative financial solutions, leveraging key partners with strong global recognition and capacity such as ATI towards achieving the goals of Vision 2025.
