Africa needs about $108 billion annual investments to upgrade its infrastructure and the private sector has a huge role to play

Africa needs about $108 billion annual investments to upgrade its infrastructure and the private sector has a huge role to play

• The CEO of Africa50, Mr Alain Ebobissé, has urged Africa’s private sector to commit to investing in the continent’s infrastructure upgrade.
• The continent needs between $68 billion and $108 billion worth of annual investments to close its infrastructure deficits.
• Africa50, which is a subsidiary of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has over the past six years been mobilising private sector investments in Africa’s infrastructure.

While addressing dignitaries during the Africa50 annual General Shareholders Meeting in Marrakech on Tuesday, the company’s CEO Mr Alain Ebobissé stressed that the private sector in Africa has a huge role to play with regards to making available much of the capital needed to upgrade the continent’s infrastructure base.

According to him, African countries need between $68 billion and $108 billion worth of investments every year to be able to build enough roads, bridges, electricity infrastructure, etc. He then went further to explain that leveraging more investments from the private sector would help governments to free up funds needed for investments in other important social projects.

During the meeting, Africa50 also signed a historic deal with a group of the richest African wealth funds. The deal would see the wealth funds deepen their commitment to invest in Africa’s infrastructure.

The new deal is coming on the heels of last month’s signing of a letter of intent between Africa50, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Ithamar Capital. The letter of intent marked the launching the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum which is aimed at mobilising capital for infrastructure projects across the continent.

Founded in September 2014, Africa50 is a subsidiary of the African Development Bank which specialises in infrastructure investments. Over the past six years, the company has invested about $5 billion on a number of projects, including electricity projects in Nigeria, Egypt and Senegal, etc.

Source: africa.businessinsider.com