African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says its Net interest income grew by 4.53 per cent to 411.2 million dollars in the first quarter of 2025, compared to the previous year.
This is contained in a statement issued by Vincent Musumba, Afreximbank’s Communications and Events Manager, on Wednesday, on the financial statements of the bank and its subsidiaries for Q1 2025.
Musumba said that the increase was driven by growth in interest-earning assets, complemented by effective management of borrowing costs.
He said that they helped the bank to cushion the marginal decline in total interest income due to softening benchmark rates.
According to him, fee income from Guarantees and Letters of Credit saw a robust growth of 47 per cent and 36 per cent respectively.
“This partially offset lower advisory fees to contribute to the total unfunded income of 26.9 million dollars for Q1 2025.
“ While this represented a 7.41 per cent decrease from 29.0 million dollars in Q1 2024, the strong performance in Off-balance sheet assets is in line with the bank’s strategy to grow unfunded business,” he said.
Musumba said that the bank posted a strong Net Income of 215 million dollars, which was a 21 per cent increase year-on-year from 178 million dollars recorded in the prior period.
He said that the group’s total assets and contingent liabilities increased by 6.4 per cent, reaching 42.7 billion dollars as of March 31, up from 40.1 billion dollars at FY2024.
According to him, on-balance sheet assets grew by 4.85 per cent to 37.0 billion dollars, which was driven primarily by a 58 per cent surge in cash balances to 7.4 billion dollars.
“Off-balance sheet assets, that is, letters of credit and guarantee volumes, increased by 19 per cent to reach 5.7 billion dollars at the end of Q1 2025,” he said
He said that Net loans and advances closed at 27.8 billion dollars in Q1 2025, down from FY2024 closing position.
“ This reflects early repayments from certain customers on account of improved foreign currency balance position of some sovereign borrowers.
“Importantly, the Loan Asset Quality remained strong, with the Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio at 2.44 per cent, which was a modest increase from the 2.33 per cent recorded in FY2024.
“This is well below the bank’s strategic NPL ceiling of four per cent,” he said.
Musumba said that operating expenses rose by 23 per cent to reach 75.4 million dollars by March 31, which was driven by inflationary pressures and growing personnel costs.
“In spite of this, Afreximbank Group maintained a healthy Cost-to-Income Ratio of 16 per cent, below its strategic range of 17-30 per cent” he said.
He said that Afreximbank’s liquidity profile strengthened considerably, with liquid assets now comprising 20 per cent of total assets, up from 13 per cent at the close of FY2024.
Musumba said that the higher liquidity position was a result of successful fund-raising, coupled with loan repayments received during the quarter under review.
He said that shareholders’ funds increased by 3.4 per cent, reaching 7.5 billion dollars.
According to him, this was driven by strong internally generated capital of 215.4 million dollars in addition to new equity investments under the second General Capital Increase (GCI II) programme.
On Afreximbank’s operating highlights, Musumba said that the bank and the Government of Kenya ratified several initiatives.
He said that the initiatives were designed to support the development of Industrial Parks (IPs) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Kenya under the three billion dollars Kenya country programme.
“These projects, which include Dongo Kundu Industrial Park in Mombasa and Naivasha SEZ II in Mai Mahiu, are key components of Kenya’s Vision 2030 plan to boost export manufacturing and industrialisation.
“Afreximbank’s support for these initiatives will specifically enhance infrastructure development, attract investment, and strategically position Kenya as a key hub for African and global commerce,” he said
He said that the rollout of the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) has continued to gain momentum.
Musumba said that the KCB Group in Kenya and Bank of Kigali in Rwanda unveiled the platform and became the first banks to offer seamless, instant, and affordable cross-border payments in local currencies.
He said that the bank marked its expansion in the Caribbean with a groundbreaking ceremony for the first Afreximbank African Trade Centre (AATC) outside Africa in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Meanwhile, Mr Denys Denya, Afreximbank’s Senior Executive Vice-President, said that the QI 2025 results, which were in line with expectations, reflected a strong and resilient financial performance, notwithstanding continued macroeconomic challenges.
