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Vista Bank Partners With IFC to Improve Import Finance in West Africa
Recently, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed a trade deal with Vista Bank through its Global Trade Finance Program to further increase the availability of importation funding to purchase refined oil products, food, raw materials, equipment, and consumer goods ie. commodity finance to fulfill the demands in Guinea and Burkina Faso.
This partnership will enable Vista Bank to have access to up to $24 million in IFC funding that will further help the bank’s subsidiaries to provide funding for commodity imports across the west African countries.
Vista Bank will also utilize the IFC’s technical support to grow its corporate governance and risk management capabilities to meet the requirements of small & medium-sized enterprises which are currently lacking in growth, innovations, and international market challenges in Burkina Faso and Guinea.
With worldwide geopolitical trends such as the Russian-Ukraine war, the US-China trade war, restricted ventures, and the COVID-19 pandemic badly affecting global transport and logic systems, the association between the IFC and Vista Bank is expected to have a flourished relationship towards improving trade between Burkina Faso, Guinea, and other nations.
Simon Tiemtoré, Chairman of Vista Group stated, “IFC’s investment is important to help improve access to trade finance for our clients. From the market perspective, it will also help with Vista Bank’s cross-border connections, expanding the nation’s integration through both financial and real sector channels. It will also attract more traders to our nations and connect Burkinabe and Guineans financial markets more efficiently. ”
Sérgio Pimenta, the IFC’s Vice President for Africa, explained, “Improving the accessibility of trade finance is important for Guinea and Burkina Faso to enable better access to essential goods, growth, and job retention and creation. The financing & advisory support reported today builds on IFC’s association with Vista Bank and will help balance the efficient flow of trade during these times of increasing worldwide economic vulnerability.”
