By Arret Jatta
Bloom Bank Africa Gambia Limited on Monday 11th November, organized a breakfast meeting to discuss trade and trade enabling infrastructure with the theme ‘Trade Africa Trade Global’ at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Conference Center in Bijilo.
The discourse attracted leaders in the business and corporate world, policymakers, financial heavyweights among others.
Dr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, Board Chairman of Bloom Bank Africa Gambia Limited, said as Africa faces unprecedented opportunities and challenges, The Gambia is making concerted efforts to solidify its position as a key player in regional and global trade.
“The country’s economic outlook is increasingly positive driven by reforms and initiatives that aim to enhance trade facilitation, strengthen infrastructure and improve the business environment,” he said.
“By embracing diverse visions, we can unlock immense economic potentials, foster prosperity and uplift millions of lives not just in The Gambia but across the continent. The theme of the event resonates deeply with our mission at Bloom Bank Africa. To facilitate seamless trade enabling infrastructure is a critical instrument for enhancing competitiveness, reducing the cost of transactions and ensuring that businesses operate more efficiently,” he emphasized.
Dr. Lamin Manneh, Senior Adviser to the Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, also noted that the future of African trade depends on fostering innovation that would strengthen rapid economic growth.
“Our country being a small open economy with a very narrow productive and export basis, we are more than committed to engage in trade initiatives and partnerships to ensure that our trading and economy grows. The theme speaks directly to the aspirations of our nation and our continent as it highlights the pivotal role of trade in fostering economic growth structural and inclusive development not just locally,” he added.
Dr. Manneh asserted that the Central Bank has been at the forefront to create a resilient financial ecosystem that supports trade at all levels whether through cross-border payment, providing liquidity to businesses or developing a secure stable environment for investment with the ultimate objective of reinforcing the government’s efforts of higher levels sustainable growth on inclusive development.
The Chief Operating Officer, Anglophone West Africa for Afreximbank also stated that at Afreximbank, they believe that sharing trade information and matching supply and demand could boost intra-Africa trade by 30%.
