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several sectors.
The facility to CBZ is worth US$60 million for on- lending to small-to-medium enterprises, while Sakunda will receive US$23 million for fuel procurement.
Speaking at the signing ceremony for the two facilities in Harare recently, PTA Bank outgoing president Dr Michael Gondwe said Zimbabwe was one of the bank’s largest beneficiaries.
Since 2006, the PTA Bank has extended facilities valued at over US$700 million.
“Over the last five years, the bank’s trade finance facilities extended to this country are in excess of US$600 million, which has mainly gone to support the financial sector through lines of credit, agribusiness and commodities,” he said.
“In addition, we have also provided project financing support to various key sectors amounting to over US$100 million during the same period.”
The PTA Bank, also known as the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, has critical mandates to promote the development and deepening of local and regional financial markets.
It also promotes rapid private sector development in its member countries through increased trade and project financing among others.
Meanwhile, the PTA Bank has officially opened its Harare office and reflected long-term commitment to the country by acquiring a prime property on the outskirts of the Central Business District.
Dr Gondwe said the increasing number of the bank’s customers in the country prompted the establishment of the office in Harare. The bank has also signed a host country agreement with the Government, which lays down the rules of engagement between the two parties, as a way to formalise their stay in the country.
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Tapiwa Mashakada said the opening of the bank’s permanent office in the country was a vote of confidence in its economy.
“The acquisition of a property here in Zimbabwe bears testimony to the PTA’s confidence in Zimbabwe and the consolidation of their role as a key supporter of business growth in this country,” he said.
The Harare office becomes the third to be operationalised — after the head office in Bujumbura and the Nairobi office — since the bank was established in 1985.
PTA incoming president and chief executive Mr Admassu Yilma Tadesse has pledged to continue supporting the country.
“I have complete confidence in Zimbabwe, and will continue to support her as I did when I was the executive vice president of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) in charge of international lending. I would put my job on the line by signing lines of credit to the country,” he said.
Mr Tadesse joins PTA Bank from the DBSA where he was a senior group executive managing several business and functional units across the group.
He succeeds Dr Gondwe, who has completed his second term and has just been appointed as the new governor of Zambia’s central bank.
The PTA Bank comprises the following Comesa member states: Burundi, Comoros, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The People’s Republic of China became the first non-regional sovereign state to join the bank in 2000, while the African Development Bank (AfDB) is the only institutional shareholder.
PTA Bank’s primary source of its funding is its share capital. Its subscribed capital currently stands at US$1,18 billion.
Online Reporter