Financial Support
Total African Portfolio - The Big Picture
ICA Members reported total portfolio sizes for Africa, including non-infrastructure commitments. The overall amount is US$57.5bn in 2010, an increase of 38% from US$41.6bn in the previous year. The figure below shows the allocation in Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Non-ODA and pictures portfolio size by member.
In total, bilateral donors made 96% of total contributions, US$22.3bn, in form of ODA, which was a proportional increase by bilateral Members in 2010, climbing from US$12.4bn in 2009. The total multilateral portfolio consists of 51% Non-ODA and 49% ODA totalling US$32.8bn.
Figure 1. ICA Member Commitments (including non-infrastructure) to African continent in 2010, in billions US$
Share of total of US$57.5bn.
ICA and External Financial Support to African Infrastructure
Figure 2 below displays external financial support to African infrastructure from 2007 to 2010. Total commitments for infrastructure in Africa in 2010 were at US$55.9bn – a considerable increase of 44% from the previous year (US$38.9bn).
Commitments made by ICA members in 2010 were US$29.1bn, more than half of the total volume and a substantial hike, of 46%, from 2009.
A preliminary estimation of private sector support quantifies private commitments at US$13.8bn in 2010. After a decrease in the previous two years caused by the financial crisis, private sector support almost returned to the 2008 levels in 2010.
In 2010 Chinese commitments almost doubled to approximately US$9.0bn. There is no official information on Chinese commitments to African infrastructure available, so this estimation is based on independent ICA research. The Secretariat has compiled a detailed list of projects with Chinese involvement in 2010. Results are presented in Annex 16 of the 2010 ICA Annual Report. Other support includes commitments from Arab Funds, India and African Regional Development Banks, reaching a total of US$4.0bn. Arab Funds almost doubled their aid to African infrastructure in 2010 from US$1.7bn to US$3.3bn. Support from African Regional Development Banks also increased, from US$0.3 to US$0.5bn in 2010. For Indian engagement, ICA estimates a decrease from US$0.5bn in 2009 to US$0.2bn5 in 2010.
Figure 2. ICA and External Financial Support to African Infrastructure, 2007-2010, in billions US$
The Big Picture - Trends
A visualisation of trends from 2007 to 2010 is provided in Figure 3 below. It illustrates how ICA members compensated for a reduction in private sector investment in 2009 and then provided a second vast augmentation in commitments to African infrastructure, by 45% in 2010.
Private sector engagement dropped consistently during the financial crisis, but now seems to have recovered, to a level of US$13.8bn in 2010, due to strong commitments to the ICT sector. Traditionally, the private sector is strongly engaged in ICT projects with a share of more than 80% of their commitments. Arab Funds, African Regional Development Banks and China backed the positive trends starting in 2009. While China became the strongest bilateral supporter of infrastructure development on the continent, Indian commitments declined in 2010.
Figure 3. Trends in ICA and External Support to African Infrastructure, 2007-2010, in billions US$
