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Professor Benedict Oramah honoured with Chad's prestigious ‘Commander of the National Order of Chad' award

Professor Benedict Oramah honoured with Chad's prestigious ‘Commander of the National Order of Chad' award

Zawya20-05-2025

The President of the Republic of Chad, His Excellency Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, has conferred on President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com), Professor Benedict Oramah, the prestigious national honours award of Commander by appointing him to the National Order of Chad, under the Ministry of Finance, Budget, Economy, Planning and International Cooperation, for his`1yyyyh outstanding contributions to the Chadian and African economies.
The rank of Commander (Commandeur) is a high distinction within this order, reflecting significant and sustained achievements while the National Order of Chad is a prestigious state honour awarded by the Republic of Chad to recognize exceptional service or contributions to the nation.
Reflecting on Chad's 2022 political transition, President Idriss Derby Itno, expressed profound gratitude to Prof. Oramah and Afreximbank for standing with the country. He noted, 'When other international lenders fled at the height of the unfortunate socio-political conflicts, Afreximbank stood firmly behind our country, continuing to push vital investments that now underpin the rapid socioeconomic recovery of our nation.'
While acknowledging the award, Professor Oramah said: 'This honour is not just a recognition of my efforts, but a testament to the collective resolve of Afreximbank and its partners to transform Chad's economy and empower its people. While I am deeply humbled by this honour, it is a call to duty. It was a reminder to the Bank to do even more to accelerate the structural transformation of the Chadian and the wider African economies.'
Chad became a member state of Afreximbank during the 36th African Union Summit where Afreximbank pledged to support strategic development projects in agriculture and livestock, two key pillars of Chad's economy, to drive sustainable growth and economic diversification.
Afreximbank reaffirms its unwavering commitment to advancing Chad's economic development through targeted investments, trade facilitation, and institutional capacity-building, ensuring shared prosperity and resilience in the years ahead.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.
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About Afreximbank:
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. For over 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa's trade, accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank has set up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2024, Afreximbank's total assets and contingencies stood at over US$40.1 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$7.2 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody's (Baa1), China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd (CCXI) (AAA), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its equity impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure (together, "the Group"). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.

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