African export-import bank, Afrximbank, announced it has proposed Egypt a facility of up to $1 billion, underwriting $500 million, to help improve the country’s foreign currency liquidity.

The president of this pan-African group, Benedict Oramah, presented this proposal during a courtesy meeting in November ending to the governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Tarek Amer.

Mr. Omarah said the Countercyclical Medium Term Trade Liquidity Facility would help boost essential imports and sustain Egypt’s industrial sector. He also stated that the facility could operate as a direct arrangement with ECB or as an allocation of credit lines to the major state-owned commercial banks for trade finance, on the basis of a list of import letters of credit.

Afreximbank’s president added that its institution would avail the Egyptian government its investment guarantee and country risk guarantee programs so as to attract foreign investments.

Founded in October 1993, Afreximbank is a multilateral specialized in funding and promotion of intra and extra-African trade. Since it launched its activities in 1994, the Cairo-based bank disbursed more than $35 billion of credit facilities to African companies, with 4.5 billion dollars in 2014.