Africa Oil Producers Raise Almost Half of the Seed Capital Needed for $5 Billion Energy Bank

African oil-producing countries who plan to start a $5 billion energy bank next year have raised 45% of the startup capital needed for the lender that aims to fill a funding gap caused by traditional investors turning away from crude to low-carbon energy.

The funds were raised “even before” its legal establishment, with Angola, Nigeria, and Ghana among its initial financial backers, Omar Farouk Ibrahim, secretary general of the African Petroleum Producers Organization, said on the sidelines of the Angola Oil & Gas conference in Luanda, the capital.