The Africa Energy Bank will begin its operations by the end of June this year, the Secretary General of African Petroleum Producers' Organization (APPO), Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim has stated.

According to him, the bank aims to attract investors from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.

Speaking at the African Energy Bank Conference in Accra, Dr Ibrahim announced that seven countries have been shortlisted to host the headquarters of the bank.

These seven countries include Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Algeria.

“Ghana is still in the race just like six other countries… the selection committee will meet next week and we will know how many countries we can eliminate from the race...One of the requirements is that whichever country is going to host the Africa Energy Bank must give us a befitting headquarters and Ghana has already shown us a property and a couple of other countries have also done that," he said.

Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim added that, "We have been mandated to ensure that the bank is operational by the 30th of June this year so this is the deadline."

The bank’s key objective is to finance oil and gas operations in Africa to curb external financing from the World Bank and other financial institutions.

SA/ADG

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