Dangote Petroleum Refinery has helped stabilise the naira and ease pressure on Nigeria's foreign exchange market by cutting the country's reliance on imported petroleum products, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank, George Elombi, has said.
Speaking at Afreximbank's Mid-Year Media Roundtable with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Elombi attributed the currency's stability to reduced fuel imports and the growth of crude-for-naira transactions. "It wasn't believed, but the currency stabilised because of that," he said.
The refinery, he added, had also demonstrated its value during recent Middle East tensions, when disruptions in the Gulf did not lead to shortages of refined petroleum products across Africa.
Afreximbank has approved $2.5bn of the $4bn financing requested for the refinery's expansion, Elombi confirmed, describing Nigeria as the bank's largest and most strategic market. Similar refinery and storage infrastructure projects were being supported in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Chad, the Republic of Congo and Namibia to strengthen energy security across the continent, according to him.
The Dangote Group's fertiliser business had also grown into a major export platform, shipping products to Germany, Brazil and other markets, though Elombi said Afreximbank wanted more of those exports redirected to African countries to deepen intra-African trade.
On regional payments, he pointed to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, now connecting more than 190 banks and fintech firms across 28 countries, which he described as central to reducing the continent's dependence on foreign currency for cross-border trade.
Since the refinery began operations in February 2024, Afreximbank has acted as financial adviser on the Naira for Crude initiative and provided a $1bn working capital facility to support the project.