Financial Support
Financing Trends
Based on analysis for the 2007 ICA annual report, the chart below shows that in 2007 Africa received a minimum $ 40 billion of external financial support to its infrastructure sector from all sources. Africa has traditionally depended on Official Development Assistance (ODA) to meet its infrastructure needs.
But a growing share of the region’s infrastructure finance is now coming from non-traditional sources and could therefore be considered complementary to support from ICA members. Leading this trend are non-OECD financiers, chiefly China, India and the Arab funds. While the Arab funds have been operating in Africa for decades, China and India began to step up their involvement in the early 2000s.
Chinese commitments alone are estimated to be a minimum of $5.2 billion in 2007. The Arab funds collectively committed $2.6 billion in 2007. India is also increasing finance for infrastructure projects in the region, with commitments averaging $0.7 billion a year.
Chart: The big picture - minimum external financial support to African infrastructure in 2007
Source:Report jointly prepared by the AfDB, OECD and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)