Africa Launches $5 Billion Energy Bank as Western Lenders Retreat

Africa needs $200 billion in annual energy investment, according to the Independent Petroleum Producers Group IPPG. Around 600 million people across Africa lack access to electricity, a problem that could quickly intensify as sub-Saharan Africa rapidly grows, develops, and industrializes. The region's energy demand is expected to increase threefold over the next decade, as emerging economies develop and the population continues to boom.

But Western investors are pulling out of the continent right when funding is most needed. To fill this gap, a brand new $5 billion financial institution, the Africa Energy Bank, has been established by the African Export-Import Bank Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers' Organisation APPO to finance oil and gas projects across Africa.