Dangote gets $650m Afreximbank loan for Lekki refinery

African billionaire, Aliko Dangote, has signed a $650 million loan facility with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for his oil refinery project in Lekki, Nigeria.

The seven-year term loan would attract a moratorium of five years, according to facility terms read out during the signing.

Cairo-based Africa’s trade bank also signed a $750 million facility with Nigeria’s development bank, the Bank of Industry.

The loans were signed in Abuja, where Afreximbank is holding its annual general meeting and 25th anniversary.

Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin said that the oil refinery would cost around $10 billion and should be completed by December 2019.

He said the company would borrow $3.3 billion for the project, arranged by Standard Chartered Bank. The remainder will be funded by equity and through export agencies.