African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers' Organisation (APPO) have established the Africa Energy Bank (AEB), a new financial institution with an authorised capital of US$5 billion. The announcement was made during the AEB's inaugural general meeting held in Abuja, with Helmy Ghazi appointed as the bank's inaugural President and a Board of Directors drawn from public and private sectors and leading policy institutions across the continent.
Afreximbank said the Africa Energy Bank was created to recognise that significant investment in energy generation and transmission was needed to accelerate industrial growth and leverage opportunities from emerging technologies. The move comes at a time when the continent's energy investment needs are estimated at US$200 billion, according to Afreximbank's statement. Traditional providers of short and long-term financing to Africa's energy sector are withdrawing funding from fossil fuels, even as oil and gas remain vital to the continent's energy systems, the bank said.
The AEB will support projects across the full energy value chain, including exploration and production, transportation, processing, refining and distribution. Operating as an independent, supranational pan-African financial institution, it will seek to attract investments from governments, national oil companies, financial institutions and private investors. Afreximbank said the investments by the two African organisations were intended to strengthen productive capacity, reduce reliance on imported petroleum products and promote intra-African trade in energy goods.
The bank's mandate includes promoting robust African participation in the continent's energy sector to ensure that Africa's energy future is shaped by Africans, Afreximbank said. The creation of the Africa Energy Bank aims to bridge the financing gap left by withdrawing traditional lenders while supporting a just energy transition for African countries, according to the statement.
For savers and businesses across Nigeria and the continent, the new bank could mean greater access to long-term financing for energy projects that might otherwise struggle to secure funding as international lenders retreat from fossil fuel investments.