Afreximbank grants overdraft facility to African states to facilitate the procurement of medical supplies against Covid-19. Countries will use the new pan-African AMSP procurement platform to do this.
The African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) has released funding of $100 million to enable its member countries to stock up on medical equipment and consumables to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries will use the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP).
The funds are made available in the form of pre-approved overdraft limits for each African government. This mechanism helps accelerate access to essential medical resources to fight the disease, reducing the short-term funding gap that African states may face.
Launched in June, the AMSP was implemented by CDC Africa (African Union Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Afreximbank and the UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa).
It is under the leadership of the African Union Special Envoy, Strive Masiyiwa. AMSP is operated by Janngo Company. The platform was created to facilitate a pooled and transparent procurement of African countries. Its services are also made available to the countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
The result of extensive continental collaboration, the AMSP serves as a “single interface for easily coordinating the supply of medical supplies to African governments and NGOs,” said a statement from the bank. Afreximbank facilitates payments on the platform.
The bank also provides letters of credit and payment guarantees that allow participating governments and organizations to minimize the initial cost of acquiring essential supplies.
A procedure accelerator!
“We are aware of the challenges many African economies face in their daily efforts to contain the pandemic,” said Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank.
“With this $100 million overdraft facility, we are ensuring that African states are able to quickly access competitively priced diagnostic kits and other medical supplies from African suppliers and in global markets.”
Recall that at the end of September, Afreximbank joined forces with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and the African Standards Organization.
The partners are launching an initiative called “Harmonization of standards for pharmaceuticals and medical equipment in Africa”. It aims to strengthen the quality and reliability of drugs and medical equipment imported or produced in Africa.
Harmonization of standards is an essential criterion for the implementation of the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area). It ensures that producers of goods on the continent comply with a set of regulatory requirements and quality standards allowing them to supply the continental market with products that meet these standards.
Harmonization of standards also improves the quality of the production of manufactured products in Africa and thus stimulates intra-African and Arab-African trade and investment.
The first step of the initiative, which will be implemented over three years, is the harmonization of standards for pharmaceuticals and utility medical equipment as part of the response to the pandemic.
The second step will be to assess the level of adaptability of existing international, regional and national standards to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry in Africa. The third phase will lead to the harmonization of the corresponding African standards and their implementation.
In the short term, the harmonization of standards will facilitate the development of technical regulations of the same level among African countries. The marketing of medical supplies and equipment from one country to another can be done more easily and quickly.
In the long term, the initiative will lead to the emergence of regional supply chains for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, thereby stimulating an ecosystem of innovation, local production and drug development for neglected diseases.
