Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe, 5 Feb – The World Bank plans to obtain funding from private international partners for investments in the Sao Tome energy sector, an official from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said Thursday in Sao Tome.

At the end of a meeting with the Sao Tome prime minister, Rafael Branco, Laurence Carter said that the IFC would try to attract investment of between US$5 million and US$10 million.

The announcement was made as part of the presentation to the government of the development project for the energy, microfinancing and tourism sectors, valid until 2014.

The IFC, which will cooperate in the execution of the project, called on the government to speed up the process of legislating for privatisation of the energy sector in order for negotiations to begin with private partners.

In 2011 the IFC plans to present a study on engineering and the capacity of the Sao Tome energy sector to the investors.

In Sao Tome and Principe the IFC has already provided a credit line of US$1 million for the retail sector. (macauhub)