Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa – 2015
11 November 2016
The 2015 Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa report shows that $83.4bn was committed to Africa’s infrastructure development in 2015, a 12% increase on the 2014 total of $74.5bn.
Published by the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), the report details that this comprises nearly $28.4bn of identified African national budget allocations, while commitments from ICA members totalled $19.8bn. Commitments from non-ICA bilateral and multilateral financiers totalled $27.7bn and private sector investment of $7.4bn was also identified.
The ICA’s annual publication about infrastructure financing trends (the seventh in the series) identifies how resources are being mobilised to make an impact on Africa’s infrastructure development. Key findings from the 2015 report include:
- Of the $27.7bn of non-ICA bilateral and multilateral finance, $20.9bn is from announcements of funding from China. This compares with $3bn in the previous year, but an average of $13.9bn for the three previous years.
- 2015 saw reduced identifiable infrastructure allocations of $28.4bn by 44 African national governments, compared with $34.5bn (based on 42 countries) in 2014.
- Private sector commitments increased by $4.6bn in 2015 to $7.4bn, of which $7.2bn went to the energy sector (with South Africa the main beneficiary receiving investments of $3.8bn.)
- Commitments to the water sector have shown a declining trend since 2013. Ninety-five percent (95%) of 2015 commitments are from national governments, ICA members and other development partners. China rarely invests in water projects and the private sector provided just 1.4%.
- There has been a sustained, but not entirely even, increase in commitments to the energy sector over the last five-years. Both public and private capital have been attracted, though the increase is centred on North Africa and Southern Africa.
- Central Africa saw a substantial fall of 41% in anticipated infrastructure spending, from $8.3bn in 2014 to $4.9bn in 2015, attributed mainly to declining African national government budget allocations and ICA members’ commitments.
- ICA members reported infrastructure financing commitments of $19.8bn in 2015, representing 5.6% or $1bn more than reported in 2014. This includes additional data from the US (Power Africa, $307m) and the UK (CDC, $139m).
- Disbursements by ICA members in 2015 totalled $12.6bn, a small decline of 2.9% compared with the $13bn reported in 2014. Despite this marginal decline, these disbursements have remained reasonably consistent over the past few years (2012 to 2015) averaging around US$12.5 bn.
This year’s report include more detailed analysis of the processes and dynamics that drive (or restrain) the continent’s infrastructure financing trends. The report includes views from a wide range of stakeholders on these forces and how strategies are emerging and developing to address the challenges of infrastructure financing in Africa.
As well as perspectives from ICA members, the report includes views from private sector stakeholders in Africa’s infrastructure development, including private equity investors, debt financiers, developers and major contractors.