On Monday 3 April 2023, the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries (MEMC), Simon-Pierre Boussim, received delegations from United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Ecobank. Long before these banks, it was the delegations of the African Development Bank (ADB) and the West African Development Bank (WADB) that were received on Friday, 10 February 2023 in Ouagadougou. During the audience, these banks announced that they want to finance projects in the mining and quarrying sector.
Received in audience by the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries (MEMC), Julien Kouassi, the Managing Director of UBA came to present the partnership between his bank and that of the MEMC. He said he was ready to finance projects identified by his bank in the mining sector. Mariam Yago, in charge of public and institutional sector clients at UBA, said: “We have identified priority projects for the ministry that UBA would like to finance”.
Subsequently, Minister Simon-Pierre Boussim received the delegation from Ecobank Burkina. It also announced its readiness to finance projects within the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries.
The ADB country manager in Burkina Faso, Daniel Ndoye, discussed with the minister five projects currently being implemented. The discussions focused on the acceleration of the implementation of these projects in order to meet the challenges of insecurity.
The Resident Head of the WADB mission, Emilfreda Bianca De Oliveira Adovelande, reported on the working session she had with SONABEL within the framework of the financing of a 20 MW power plant in Koudougou.
In addition to these banks, private companies have also decided to support the energy sector. The ELECTAFRIC company has stated its intention to set up a meter assembly unit in Burkina Faso. For the company, this will make it possible to reduce delivery times, to employ young people on site and to be autonomous in ordering the equipment.
ELECTAFRIC is a Malian company based in Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. It offers solutions to optimise energy consumption and tools related to the electrical sector.
Finally, on Thursday 4 April 2023, it was the turn of the Deputy Director of Power China El Hadj Ahmed Fofana to discuss with the Minister the financing of the energy sector. “We want to see to what extent we can support Burkina Faso in its energy sovereignty,” he said.
Banks have a history of assisting various government ministries. In 2021, Ecobank assisted the Ministry of Health in financing its “Zero Malaria” project.
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