Afreximbank and DBSA Launch Game‑Changing Trade Finance Pact to Fast‑Track Intra‑African Trade

Master Risk Participation Agreement signed at Mining Indaba 2026 to scale trade finance, de‑risk cross‑border transactions and accelerate beneficiation of critical minerals.

Cape Town, Mining Indaba 2026, 11 February 2026 — The African Export‑Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) today signed a Master Risk Participation Agreement (MRPA) that will rapidly expand trade finance capacity across Africa, unlock beneficiation opportunities and strengthen regional value chains.

“The MRPA is a strategic partnership between the DBSA and Afreximbank designed to mobilise capital, share risk, and unlock trade and industrial activity across the region.” The agreement is a risk‑sharing framework for funded and unfunded participations that supports local capital markets through lines of credit specifically for trade finance to regional banks.

Why this matters now

• Scale at speed: The MRPA creates a standing legal framework that lets both institutions deploy capital faster and at greater scale than ad hoc, transaction‑by‑transaction approaches. 
• De‑risking trade: Participation structures will expand approval capacity, extend tenors and lower the cost of trade finance for exporters, importers and regional banks. 
• AfCFTA enablement: By addressing the critical bottleneck of affordable, reliable trade finance, the agreement directly supports AfCFTA implementation and intra‑African market integration. 
• Industrialisation focus: The MRPA targets trade‑intensive, working‑capital heavy value chains—especially critical minerals—supporting equipment imports, processing inputs, inventory cycles and cross‑border movement of intermediate goods.

Impact for critical minerals and regional industry

Africa, and the SADC region in particular, holds a significant share of critical minerals. The MRPA shifts financing emphasis from purely long‑term project finance to trade finance solutions that enable beneficiation, local processing and regional value‑chain development, helping the continent capture more value and create sustainable jobs and factories.

Boitumelo Mosako, Chief Executive Officer, DBSA (speaking at Mining Indaba 2026): 

"This partnership with Afreximbank is a decisive step in unlocking Africa’s trade and industrial potential. By expanding access to affordable, reliable trade finance we are de‑risking cross‑border transactions, strengthening regional value chains, and enabling African businesses to move from raw extraction to beneficiation. Today’s agreement is about scale, speed and impact—delivering the finance that will turn resources into sustainable jobs, factories and exports across the continent."

Immediate next steps

• Onboarding partners: Rapid onboarding of regional and local partner banks to roll out lines of credit for priority trade corridors. 
• Targeted deployment: Initial focus on critical minerals value chains, regional manufacturing inputs and exporters ready to scale under AfCFTA. 
• Performance monitoring: Joint impact metrics and a scalable rollout plan to expand participation as demand and outcomes are validated.

The MRPA represents a market‑aligned, scalable risk‑sharing framework that extends beyond individual transactions to optimise balance‑sheet usage for both funded and unfunded participations. By enabling Afreximbank and DBSA to support trade finance at scale, it strengthens their collective capacity to empower African exporters, importers, and regional value chains—driving sustainable growth and resilience across the continent.