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Michael Makuza, Business Reporter

NMB Zimbabwe has signed a US$10 million three-year line of credit facility with the Eastern and Southern Trade and Development Bank (TDB) to support clients in export-focused sectors of the economy.

The bank has been on a drive to mobilise foreign lines of credit leveraging on its strong international shareholder profile.

In a latest statement, NMB said the credit line will be deployed to support corporates with trade-enabling working capital needs and capital expenditures.

“Priority will be given to sectors that enhance Zimbabwe’s export base, increase forex revenue and support expanded employment in sectors such as agriculture, mining, hospitality and tourism, and manufacturing,” it said.

NMB Bank Limited is a multi-award-winning registered commercial bank and the principal subsidiary of NMBZ, a Zimbabwe-based investment holding company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

Speaking at the signing of the line of credit facility, NMB Bank chief executive officer, Mr Gerald Gore, said their partnership with TDB has stood the test of time and that the line of credit will help grow the country’s economic growth.

“This line of credit helps to support our shared focus on growth, sustainability, and overall contribution to the development of the Zimbabwean economy,” he said.

“The facility provides the much-needed support to our exporting entities to retool and for working capital support in order for them to compete effectively on the global arena.”

TDB was established in 1985 and is a multilateral, treaty-based, investment-grade development finance institution, with 44 sovereign and institutional shareholders and assets of US$8 billion.

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TDB serves 23 economies in its region, with the mandate to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration, and sustainable development through trade finance, project and infrastructure finance, and asset management.

TDB group executive, coverage for Southern Africa, Gloria Mamba, said the banks have been working together since 2010 when TDB availed the first line of credit to NMB Bank for general corporate customers and said it is important to continue with this relationship.

“To continue this relationship with NMB in the expansion and retooling of the Zimbabwean economy is important to us,” she said.

In Zimbabwe, TDB’s portfolio has been supporting the retooling of the economy, availability of foreign currency to support exports, and inter and intra-Africa trade, through various projects and transactions in several sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, agribusiness, power, as well as hospitality and tourism.