Business / Economy
PTA Bank pours US$150m into Zimbabwe
31 Dec 2010 at 12:03hrs | Views
Southern African trade and development bank, PTA Bank, injected a total of US$150 million into the Zimbabwean economy during 2010, through project finance windows to the private sector and lines of credit to the financial sector.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the PTA Bank ' established in 1985 ' has so far disbursed a cumulative US$6 billion to its 17 member states.
The bank has also played an active role in promoting the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
In statement announcing the selection of Zimbabwe as chairman for the bank during 2011, the Finance Ministry said notwithstanding the challenges the country has been facing, the regional bank continued to support Zimbabwe with lines of credit.
PTA disbursed these funds at a time when the local banking sector was reluctant to advance loans to the private sector due to liquidity constraints emanating from the global financial crisis.
The country's banking sector failed to attract meaningful external lines of credit resulting in local money being very expensive due to perceived high country risk.
As of August this year, banks had advanced an estimated US$700 million to the private sector for the eight months, bringing total advances since last year to US$1,3 billion, with the largest chunk of the funds coming from the Afreximbank, PTA Bank and the African Development Bank.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for Finance, Mr Willard Manungo, was elected during the 103rd meeting of the board of directors held in the country early this month to chair the PTA Bank board for 2011.
Mr Manungo has been a board member representing Eritrea, Mauritius, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Other shareholders include Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Comoros, Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi and Seychelles.
China is a non-regional member while the African Development Bank is an institutional shareholder.
The PTA Bank provides project and infrastructure finance and trade finance as its core products and services. Project and infrastructure finance is the medium- term lending window of the bank.
These facilities are available to businesses and enterprises incorporated and doing business in the PTA Bank member states.
Facility amounts vary depending on the needs and borrowing capacity of the borrower.
However, facilities will normally be not less than US$500 000 and not more than US$20 million.
Smaller or larger amounts are considered only under very exceptional circumstances.
In the case of PTA Bank, project finance loans have tenures ranging from three to 10 years including a maximum grace period of three years.
Longer tenures can, however, be negotiated depending on a project's financial and operational requirements.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the PTA Bank ' established in 1985 ' has so far disbursed a cumulative US$6 billion to its 17 member states.
The bank has also played an active role in promoting the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
In statement announcing the selection of Zimbabwe as chairman for the bank during 2011, the Finance Ministry said notwithstanding the challenges the country has been facing, the regional bank continued to support Zimbabwe with lines of credit.
PTA disbursed these funds at a time when the local banking sector was reluctant to advance loans to the private sector due to liquidity constraints emanating from the global financial crisis.
The country's banking sector failed to attract meaningful external lines of credit resulting in local money being very expensive due to perceived high country risk.
As of August this year, banks had advanced an estimated US$700 million to the private sector for the eight months, bringing total advances since last year to US$1,3 billion, with the largest chunk of the funds coming from the Afreximbank, PTA Bank and the African Development Bank.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for Finance, Mr Willard Manungo, was elected during the 103rd meeting of the board of directors held in the country early this month to chair the PTA Bank board for 2011.
Mr Manungo has been a board member representing Eritrea, Mauritius, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Other shareholders include Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Comoros, Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi and Seychelles.
China is a non-regional member while the African Development Bank is an institutional shareholder.
The PTA Bank provides project and infrastructure finance and trade finance as its core products and services. Project and infrastructure finance is the medium- term lending window of the bank.
These facilities are available to businesses and enterprises incorporated and doing business in the PTA Bank member states.
Facility amounts vary depending on the needs and borrowing capacity of the borrower.
However, facilities will normally be not less than US$500 000 and not more than US$20 million.
Smaller or larger amounts are considered only under very exceptional circumstances.
In the case of PTA Bank, project finance loans have tenures ranging from three to 10 years including a maximum grace period of three years.
Longer tenures can, however, be negotiated depending on a project's financial and operational requirements.
Source - Sapa
