Multilateral finance institution the African Export‑Import Bank (Afreximbank) and development finance institution the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) have signed a Master Risk Participation Agreement (MRPA) that will expand trade finance capacity across Africa, de‑risk cross‑border transactions, accelerate the beneficiation of critical minerals and strengthen regional value chains.

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

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.

Further, participation structures will expand approval capacity, extend tenors and lower the cost of trade finance for exporters, importers and regional banks, which will help to derisk trade.

The agreement is also aimed at enabling the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by addressing the critical bottleneck of affordable, reliable trade finance, directly supporting AfCFTA implementation and intra‑African market integration.

The MRPA also targets trade‑intensive, working‑capital-heavy value chains, especially critical minerals, and thereby supports equipment imports, processing inputs, inventory cycles and cross‑border movement of intermediate goods, Afreximbank and the DBSA say.

Africa, and the Southern African Development Community region in particular, holds a significant share of critical minerals, they note.

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, the organisations note.

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 the DBSA to support trade finance at scale, it strengthens their collective capacity to empower African exporters, importers, and regional value chains, which will drive sustainable growth and resilience across the continent.

“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 derisking cross‑border transactions, strengthening regional value chains and enabling African businesses to move from raw extraction to beneficiation,” says DBSA CEO Boitumelo Mosako.

The agreement is about scale, speed and impact with the aim of delivering the finance that will turn resources into sustainable jobs, factories and exports across the continent, she says.

Specifically, the partnership's immediate next steps include rapid onboarding of regional and local partner banks to roll out lines of credit for priority trade corridors, as well as targeted deployment, with an initial focus on critical minerals value chains, regional manufacturing inputs and exporters ready to scale under the AfCFTA.

Further, in terms of performance monitoring, the partners aim to implement joint impact metrics and roll out a scalable plan to expand participation, as demand and outcomes are validated, the organisations say.