Libyan bank to open branches in Nairobi

By VPPS

Kenya will benefit from a new fund to finance infrastructure construction and poverty reduction established by Libya’s Sahel-Sahara Investment Bank.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka welcomed the setting up of the fund, which is being championed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, whom he met on Saturday. Kalonzo said Kenya was keen to tap into the fund to support public–private partnerships.

"Kenya is in dire need of funds to finance road, rail, airports and industrial projects, which might inevitably take the form of public-private partners" he told the bank bosses.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka meets Libya’s Chairman of CEN-SAD Bank Hade Al Warfalli when he paid him a courtesy call at his Tripoli office, in Libya yesterday. The VP has been attending CEN-SAD Heads of State and Government Summit in Sabrata. See story on page 18. [PHOTO: vpps]

Senior officials of the bank, including a technical team, will be in Nairobi next month to finalise the process for setting up the investment bank and its regional headquarters, the bank chairman Hade Al Warfalli, said on Sunday when he met Kalonzo

Already, the Central Bank has given the green light for the bank’s presence in Nairobi.

bank’s network

The bank, which operates in the Saheel-Sahara member States, to which Kenya joined last year, has a presence in 14 countries including Libya, Ghana, Gambia, Togo, Benin, Chad, Liberia, Sudan and Senegal. "Poverty and lack of reliable infrastructure are the major issues in Africa and we are keen to support projects in these two areas," said Mr Warfalli.

The Vice-President also met Somali Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke, and they discussed the support of the international community for the transitional government, currently besieged by the Alshabaab militia.