NMB Bank (NMB) this week signed a US$10 million, three-year line of credit facility to support export-focused companies with the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB).
NMB chief executive Gerald Gore said the credit line would be deployed to support corporates with trade-enabling working capital needs and capital expenditures.
“NMB has been on a drive to mobilise foreign lines of credit, leveraging the bank’s strong international shareholder profile.
“Priority will be given to sectors that enhance Zimbabwe’s export base, increase forex revenue, and support expanded employment in sectors such as agriculture, mining, hospitality, and tourism, as well as manufacturing,” Gore said.
“Our partnership with TDB has stood the test of time. This line of credit helps to support our shared focus on growth, sustainability, and overall contribution to the development of the Zimbabwean economy. The facility provides the much-needed support to our exporting entities to retool and for working capital support in order for them to compete effectively in the global arena,” Gore said.
TDB group executive, coverage for Southern Africa Gloria Mamba said the two financial institutions had been working together since 2010, when TDB availed the first line of credit to NMB for general corporate customers.
“In 2019, TDB and NMB came together to support a local microfinance institution extending its lending to SMEs. To continue this relationship with NMB in the expansion and retooling of the Zimbabwean economy is important to us,” Mamba said.
In Zimbabwe, TDB’s portfolio has been supporting the retooling of the economy, the availability of foreign currency to support exports, and inter and intra-African trade through various projects and transactions in several sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, agribusiness, power, as well as hospitality and tourism.
TDB was established in 1985 and is a multilateral, treaty-based, investment-grade development finance institution, with 44 sovereign and institutional shareholders and assets of US$8 billion.
It serves 23 economies in the region, with the mandate to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration, and sustainable development through trade finance, project and infrastructure finance, and asset management.
TDB is part of TDB Group, which also comprises the Trade and Development Fund (TDF), Eastern and Southern African Trade Advisors Limited (ESATAL), TDB Captive Insurance Company (TCI), and TDB Academy.
NMB is a commercial bank and the principal subsidiary of NMBZ, a Zimbabwean-based investment holding company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
The bank’s top shareholders include international and regional entities with a strong African presence, such as African Century, Arise, Old Mutual, and Afric
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