Trade Finance Supply in Africa: Post-Covid Trends and Emerging Opportunities
Presented by Omolola Amoussou and George Marbuah
African Development Bank
Organized by the Private Sector Development Research Network
hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB)
Friday, 27th of March 2026, from 9-10am EST
LINK TO SEMINAR WILL BE PROVIDED ASAP
ABOUT THE SEMINAR
The fifth trade finance supply report by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) examines trade finance developments in Africa since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and through 2024 from a bank-intermediation perspective. For the first time, the report presents quantified analysis of the size of trade finance intermediated by development finance institutions (DFIs). The report also expands the analysis to include aspects of environmental sustainability and digitalization – two key emerging issues in the trade finance landscape.
The AfDB’s trade finance supply report’s updated assessment of the trade finance market in Africa deepens our understanding of the challenges that persist while providing an appreciation of the emerging opportunities for banks engaged in trade finance activities in Africa. It reaffirms the crucial role that DFIs play in Africa’s trade finance landscape and highlights some of the key initiatives implemented to help reduce the trade finance gap on the continent. The analysis underscores the continued importance of and need for Africa-wide collaboration in addressing knowledge gaps, providing on-the-ground market insights into trade finance challenges and serving as a basis for targeted interventions from policymakers, the AfDB, and other development partners.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Omolola Amoussou
(African Development Bank)
Omolola Amoussou is a Chief Research Economist in the Microeconomic, Institutional and Development Impact Division of the African Development Bank. She holds a M.A. and PhD in Economics from Vanderbilt University and has several years of experience in financial consulting. Omolola joined the African Development Bank from the Washington DC metro office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) as a Manager of the Financial Risk Management Practice. Prior to that, she was a Transfer Pricing professional in the Atlanta office of PwC and has also taught at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Omolola’s primary research and academic interests are in the areas of finance, innovation, development, trade, and entrepreneurship. Her work has been published in major international economics and business journals such as the Journal of International Economics and the Journal of African Business.
George Marbuah
(African Development Bank)
George Marbuah is a Senior Research Economist in the Microeconomic Institutional and Development Impact Division at the African Development Bank. He is an applied Economist with interests in economic policy and research on finance for sustainable development, development economics, private sector development, environmental and natural resource management, and empirical macroeconomic issues across different contexts. George holds a PhD in Economics from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.