WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Barack Obama returns to Africa this week, his major initiative to help the continent double access to electricity is in jeopardy, undermined by Congress.
Of the $7 billion that Obama set aside for Power Africa, $5 billion fell under the auspices of the now-defunct Export-Import Bank, which guarantees loans to foreign companies buying U.S.-made products. Just $132 million in transactions had been approved before the bank’s charter expired last month, and now it cannot approve new ones.
The bank, denounced by conservative critics as corporate welfare, said it had several billion dollars of Power Africa projects in the pipeline.