Afreximbank, APPO seal deal on energy transition bank

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed an agreement with the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO) to establish an African Energy Transition Bank in support of an Africa-led energy transition strategy.

The new institution will accelerate Africa’s economic development, whilst ensuring this progress is compatible with, and complementary to, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as well as the continent’s long-term social and environmental objectives as set out in African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.

The African Energy Transition Bank will address urgent and existential needs on the continent.

According to the agreement, Africa’s transition towards alternative energy sources presents great opportunities for the continent, this transition must be carefully managed to minimise the short-term adverse impacts of the transition while maximising its longer-term benefits. The new bank’s responsibilities will include the management and encouragement of such a productive transition. APPO member states will be signatories to the bank’s constitutional documents which will be structured in the form of a multilateral treaty, and invest equity into the new vehicle, while Afreximbank will co-invest and advise on the establishment and implementation process.

Benedict Oramah, president, Afreximbank, commented: “We are delighted to be collaborating with APPO towards the establishment of the proposed African Energy Transition Bank. These are challenging times when we must strive to strike the right balance between the imperatives of mitigating climate change and the urgency of averting social upheavals as a result of increasingly difficult economic and financial conditions in Africa. For us at Afreximbank, supporting the emergence of the African Energy Transition Bank will enable a more efficient and predictable capital allocation between fossil fuels and renewables. It will also free human and other resources at Afreximbank that will make it possible to support its member countries more effectively in the transition to cleaner fuels. We thank the members and leadership of APPO for their confidence in Afreximbank to support them as they embark on this very important initiative.”

Omar Farouk Ibrahim, APPO secretary-general, said, “the event marks the beginning of Africa taking its destiny into its own hands. For too long we have looked outside for solutions to our challenges – access to finance, access to technology, access to markets – and so on. We have come to believe that without foreign support we cannot make any progress in addressing these challenges on the African continent.”

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.