President of the Trade and Development Bank (TDB), Admassu Tadesse has said in Kampala that the bank last year earned over US$112 million at the end of December 2017, which was way higher than the over US $101 million earned in the previous year.
Mr. Tedesse disclosed the figures in Kampala on Tuesday as he addressed delegates attending the 34th Annual General Meeting of the bank’s Board of Governors at Serena Hotel, Kampala, organised by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
One of the other highlights in the financial year 2017 financial year, Tadesse said, was the clearing of the US $2.3 million dollar loan that accumulated in 2016.
Tadesse said that TDB is now able to attract international credit to fund the regional development projects such as roads and others.
“Africans can now be proud that the region has a significant bank that can attract international banks to help us grow economically,” he said.
Opening the meeting officially Uganda’s Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda applauded the bank for the role it has played in different sectors of the economies of the regions it operates in. “ The bank has contributed to Trade, infrastructure and agribusiness. Its asset value has gone up to 74 per cent since making their investments four years ago,” he said.
Speaking at the function, Finance minister Matia Kasaija said that, “TDB has been a strongly committed partner in Uganda’s economic journey and also supported Uganda in development of some infrastructure.”
Kasaija who is the Incoming Chairman Board of Governors for TDB said that government borrowed money to finance the budget. “This bank has lent us money to invest in different infrastructure, you also remember that we borrowed US $ 200 million from TDB Bank to fund part of our budget,” Kasaija said.
He said government was looking forward to getting credit from the bank to build the standard gauge railway. The only money I am looking forward to borrowing is one for the standard gauge railway and when borrowing, we look at quite a number of things including borrowing rates,” he said.
TDB is mandated to finance and foster trade, socioeconomic development, and regional economic integration through trade finance, project and infrastructure finance, funds management and business advisory services.
Tadesse said the bank has so far signed 33 deals in Uganda and that more were in the pipeline. “We have injected about US $ 448 million into Uganda and we are still doing more,” he said.
The bank is set to sign a grant of US $ 25,000 to Powah Limited, an energy and technology solutions provider, to support the construction of the Powah Hub. The Hub will facilitate access to resources, training, and information for marginalized groups in Uganda.
Tadesse said TDB intends to play a leading role in promoting trade, economic development and regional integration at a crucial time when Eastern and Southern African countries are looking to grow and transform their economies.
The bank has partly funded renewable energy projects such as Turkana Wind Power in Kenya, Hydromax Minihydro in Uganda and industrial projects such as cement and steel plants in DR Congo, Djibouti, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Other projects funded include the Burundi Fibre Optic Backbone Project and Kilwa Power in Tanzania.
It has also provided important asset finance facilities to the air-transport sector in the region, with Rwanda Air, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines being beneficiaries. Other sectors beneficiaries are agribusiness, industry, trade financing of fertilizer, equipment, agricultural commodities and petroleum.
Management of the bank have introduced a new class of shares, new shareholders and new member states. We have a more modern, robust governance structure, and a stronger institutional framework, reflected in a new Treasury and new Risk Management Division. We reformed our constitution to make all of this possible, Tadesse of the bank that has been in operation since 1985.
“We have dramatically increased our capacity to meet the rising demand for the Bank’s products and services, thanks to the strong funding partnerships we have built up with long term funders and investors. Our shareholder base has increased by more than 50 per cent in recent years, with several new institutional investors and member states. Indeed, our equity capital has tripled since we embarked on the current corporate plan in 2012,” he said recently in Nairobi during stakeholder events to mark the rebranding of the bank.
With the rebranding, the bank will retain the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank as its legal name, but its brand name is officially Trade and Development Bank (TDB). It is headquartered in Nairobi Kenya, with offices in Bujumbura, Kinshasa and a few more others.