By Nqobile Dludla
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – The proposed Africa Energy Bank, which aims to fund oil and gas projects across the continent, is set to start operations by mid-year this year, with South Africa also indicating interest to join, an Afreximbank official said.
The bank, a partnership between Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), is meant to help plug a funding gap in Africa amid pressure on major banks from environmental groups to shift investment dollars away from climate-warming oil and gas projects.
“We are in the capital raising phase. A number of countries have already put in the money, (so) we’re talking to a number of countries to bring in the capital so that we can start trading,” Afreximbank Senior Executive Vice President Denys Denya said.
“Definitely we’ll start trading this year. We’re hoping that we can start trading before the half-year stage,” he told Reuters on Monday on the sidelines of Africa’s annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town, referring to the bank starting operations.
Afreximbank is not yet disclosing funding commitments from the countries joining the bank.
The bank will be headquartered in Nigeria with an initial capitalization of up to $5 billion, offering tailored funding solutions to meet Africa’s energy needs.
Denya said that in addition to Angola, Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana, there were countries – including South Africa – that were not members of APPO that had indicated interest to be part of the bank.
The Department of Mineral Resources’ Director General Jacob Mbele confirmed to Reuters that South Africa was interested and had asked the bank for the prospectus before committing to a funding figure.
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
