Afreximbank Approves $10bn Gulf Crisis Facility for Africa, Caribbean

Quick Reads

Afreximbank has approved a $10 billion facility to shield African and Caribbean economies from the economic shock of the Gulf war.
The Gulf Crisis Response Programme will fund essential imports including fuel, food, fertiliser, and pharmaceuticals.
The intervention comes as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global energy supplies and drives up costs.
Afreximbank is coordinating with the African Union and CARICOM to build long-term trade resilience beyond emergency financing.

The African Export-Import Bank has approved a $10 billion emergency facility to cushion African and Caribbean economies against rising fuel and food costs triggered by the ongoing war in the Gulf.

The Gulf Crisis Response Programme (GCRP) will provide short-term foreign exchange and liquidity to help vulnerable member states sustain imports of fuel, liquefied natural gas (LNG), food, fertiliser, and pharmaceuticals, the bank announced on Tuesday.

The facility is a direct response to the escalating conflict between Iran and a combined force of Israel and the United States, which has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. That chokepoint handles approximately one-fifth of global oil production, and its disruption has sent energy prices soaring worldwide, with Brent crude rising more than 50% since the conflict intensified.

“This crisis response programme is in tune with our DNA,” said Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of Afreximbank’s Board of Directors. “We understand how our economies work and the pain points associated with these transitory crises.”

The bank noted that the programme will support countries in adjusting to the current crisis while strengthening their resilience to future shocks “through interventions that transform the structure of their economies.”

Beyond emergency financing, Afreximbank plans to coordinate a regional response alongside the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. The goal is to strengthen energy security, trade resilience, and supply chain diversification across both regions.

The $10 billion intervention builds on Afreximbank’s track record of crisis response. The bank previously launched a $4 billion Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa, under which it disbursed $39 billion to help countries access essential goods during that conflict.

The approval comes just seven days after Afreximbank secured $2 billion through its largest syndicated borrowing to date, a three-year dual-tranche term loan facility. Within the same period, the bank also underwrote $2.5 billion in a $4 billion senior syndicated term loan for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals.