Afreximbank Unveils $10bn War Chest for Africa and Caribbean Amid Middle East Crisis

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a $10 billion emergency financing package to protect African and Caribbean economies from the mounting fallout of the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The Gulf Crisis Response Programme (GCRP), approved by the bank’s Board of Directors and launched on 31 March 2026, is designed to cushion African and CARICOM member states from surging energy prices, disrupted trade routes and tightening foreign exchange conditions triggered by the conflict that erupted on 28 February.

The Gulf region is a critical global supplier of oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fertilisers, and the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most strategic shipping chokepoints. The conflict has upended these flows, sending shockwaves through commodity markets and supply chains. Afreximbank warns that African and Caribbean economies — many of which are heavily dependent on fuel, fertiliser and food imports, as well as Gulf-linked tourism, remittances and investment — are among the most exposed.

“The crisis response programme is in tune with our DNA. We understand how our economies work and the pain points associated with these transitory crises,” said George Elombi, president and chairman of the board of directors at Afreximbank.

“The programme will support African countries in adjusting smoothly to the crisis while strengthening their resilience to future shocks through interventions that transform the structure of their economies. I commend the Board of Directors of Afreximbank for their proactivity and fortitude in approving this intervention programme,” he added.

Keeping fuel, food and medicines flowing

Under the GCRP, Afreximbank will provide short-term foreign exchange and liquidity lines to governments, financial institutions and corporates to ensure continuity of essential imports. The package targets critical goods such as fuel, LNG, food staples, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals, all of which face heightened price and supply risks.

The bank has already begun working with commercial banks and corporate clients to secure fuel and energy supplies, fertilisers and key food imports whose delivery has been jeopardised by the protracted crisis.

Afreximbank will also extend pre-export finance, working capital and inventory financing to African energy and mineral exporters. The aim is to help them take advantage of elevated prices and rerouted trade flows by ramping up production of strategic commodities, while smoothing out the liquidity pressures that often accompany commodity price spikes.

Support for tourism and aviation

Beyond trade and commodities, the programme includes targeted support for member states whose tourism and aviation sectors have been hit by the crisis. With flight rerouting, rising fuel costs and traveller uncertainty weighing on visitor numbers, several African and Caribbean destinations risk losing a vital source of foreign exchange and employment.

Short-term financing under GCRP is intended to help these economies bridge immediate revenue gaps, stabilise key operators and avoid deeper economic dislocation in sectors that are central to their recovery prospects.

Building long-term resilience

While structured as a crisis response, the Bank frames GCRP as part of a longer-term strategy to reduce the vulnerability of African and Caribbean economies to external shocks.

The facility will help scale up productive capacity in energy and minerals, as well as accelerate delayed investments in critical infrastructure — including energy, ports and logistics projects — that have stalled as a result of the conflict and broader uncertainty.

By boosting domestic and regional supply capacity, Afreximbank argues, African and CARICOM states can gradually reduce their dependence on volatile external supply chains and import bills.

Track record of emergency interventions

The new programme extends a pattern of rapid crisis interventions by Afreximbank over the past decade.

During the 2015–16 commodity price collapse, the Bank deployed emergency facilities to help commodity-dependent economies manage collapsing export revenues. In 2020–21, it rolled out support measures to cushion trade and essential imports during the COVID‑19 pandemic. More recently, in response to the Ukraine war, Afreximbank launched the US$4 billion Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa (UKAFPA).

Under UKAFPA and related facilities, the Bank says it ultimately disbursed some US$39 billion, helping African countries plug liquidity gaps and maintain access to essential goods amidst severe market dislocation.

These experiences, Afreximbank maintains, have allowed it to develop “robust and innovative risk-mitigation frameworks” that can be quickly adapted to new crises and tailored to member states’ needs.

Coordinated regional response

Beyond direct financing, GCRP is intended to anchor a broader, coordinated regional response to the Gulf crisis.

Afreximbank will work with the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union Commission, the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and the CARICOM Secretariat to strengthen cooperation on energy security, trade resilience and supply chain diversification.

The Bank argues that only a concerted approach can ensure that African and Caribbean countries not only survive the current shock but emerge with stronger, more self-reliant economies.