African finance leaders are moving closer to building a trade bloc with the Caribbean that would create a market of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of around $3.5 trillion connected across the Atlantic Ocean.
Benedict Oramah, president of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), told Semafor the bank plans to open an office in the Caribbean early next year. Afreximbank officials traveled to Barbados in September for the first Africa-Caribbean investment forum where they announced plans to work with regional governments to set up a Caribbean Exim Bank with a proposed investment of $700 million.