Afreximbank has agreed a US$190 million, three-part financing package with CBZ Bank Limited. This marks a significant step in Zimbabwe’s efforts to expand trade finance, deepen SME lending, and stabilise its electricity supply. It also signals fresh opportunities for regional investors tracking the Southern African power and trade corridors.

Afreximbank CBZ financing anchors trade and SME growth

African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) concluded the Afreximbank CBZ financing agreements in El Alamein, Egypt. The facilities are designed to strengthen CBZ’s ability to support companies across Zimbabwe’s economy. The deals were signed by Haytham Elmaayergi, Executive Vice President for Global Trade Bank at Afreximbank, and Valeta Mthimkhulu, Managing Director of CBZ Bank Limited.

The largest component is a US$150 million revolving trade finance facility for CBZ Bank. This will allow the lender to provide funded trade finance and letters of credit to Zimbabwean corporates. It directly addresses Africa’s persistent trade finance gap and improves access to international markets. Afreximbank framed the facility as a tool to support several productive sectors and strengthen export-oriented businesses. The aim is to boost foreign-exchange generation and support Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 goal of becoming an upper middle-income economy.

Alongside this, Afreximbank approved a US$20 million dual-tranche SME finance facility. It will reinforce CBZ’s capacity to fund small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in trade and trade-related activities. The programme combines financing with capacity-building support, including business services and advisory. This helps SMEs access capital and integrate more effectively into regional and global value chains. The SME facility builds on Afreximbank’s broader Export SME Development Programme across Africa. Under that programme, Afreximbank has extended other SME finance lines in Zimbabwe, including a US$15 million SME Finance Facility to Ecobank Zimbabwe Limited under its Export SME Development Programme (ESDP).

CBZ’s leadership has framed the partnership as central to its strategy to support clients across key sectors. Mthimkhulu said the bank is now better positioned to deliver financing solutions that unlock opportunities for exporters and small businesses. The bank is also backing national priorities such as energy and infrastructure development.

Power-sector on-lending links banking and infrastructure

The third leg of the Afreximbank CBZ financing package is a US$20 million dual-tranche on-lending facility targeted at Zimbabwe’s electricity sector. The structure will enable CBZ to participate in an approved US$210 million syndicated dual-tranche facility for the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC). ZETDC is the state-owned utility responsible for transmission and distribution. By positioning CBZ within this syndicate, Afreximbank is tying the bank’s balance sheet more directly to power infrastructure. This is an area where Zimbabwe and the wider Southern African Development Community (SADC) continue to face supply constraints.

Afreximbank expects the power-focused facility to help reduce power deficits and improve electricity stability in Zimbabwe and neighbouring markets. For local businesses, more reliable power supply should translate into lower operational risk and greater capacity utilisation over time. This is particularly relevant in energy-intensive sectors such as mining, manufacturing, and agro-processing. For CBZ, the arrangement deepens its role in infrastructure finance. It complements existing initiatives in bonds and trade credit lines referenced in domestic media.

The package also illustrates Afreximbank’s wider strategy. The Cairo-based multilateral approved over US$22 billion in financing in 2024 alone. It is using targeted bank lines to push capital into trade, SMEs, and critical infrastructure while leveraging local intermediaries for distribution. In Zimbabwe, that approach now combines direct credit to CBZ with a joint venture trading platform. Afreximbank’s Africa Trade and Distribution Company has partnered with CBZ Agro Yield to strengthen agricultural exports and logistics.

For investors and policymakers, the Afreximbank CBZ financing deal signals that Zimbabwe’s banking sector is becoming a more central conduit for structured, cross-border capital into trade and infrastructure.

The next cues to watch will be CBZ’s deployment pace across its corporate and SME books, ZETDC’s progress on grid investments funded by the syndicate, and whether Afreximbank scales this model with other regional lenders to further integrate SADC’s trade and power systems.

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