Infrastructure News

Le Consortium pour les infrastructures en Afrique (ICA par acronyme anglais) a annoncé, mercredi 7 novembre 2018, que les financements engagés pour le développement des infrastructures en Afrique ont augmenté de 22 % en 2017.

The 'Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa 2017' report released at the opening of the Africa Investment Forum by the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa shows that funding for Africa's infrastructure has grown by 22 per cent.

Funding commitments to Africa’s infrastructure development rose by 22% in 2017, the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa announced today. Published on the first day of the Africa Investment Forum, the ICA’s Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa 2017 report shows that commitments to develop Africa’s infrastructure increased to $81.6bn in 2017 from US$66.9bn in 2016.

Funding commitments to Africa's infrastructure development rose by 22% in 2017, the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) announced today.

East African economies have in the past 10 years borrowed $29.42 billion to grow their transport, communication, manufacturing and energy sectors. The region’s economies are now spending almost 8% of their revenues to service these loans, which analysts say are becoming a burden, especially given that their impact on growth is yet to be seen.

The Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to loan the Africa Finance Corporation US$ 300 million to support its financing of African infrastructure projects.

Investments in the infrastructure sector in East Africa are forecast to reach US $98.8 billion by 2022 - but hurdles to be overcome include high transaction costs, inadequate availability of bankable projects, and limited local capacity for project preparation and tender.

US President Donald Trump is expected within days to approve an initiative to overhaul the US investment strategy in Africa.

Ministers from Japan and over 50 African countries started a two-day meeting in Tokyo on Saturday to discuss the need for quality infrastructure and the challenges in making development more inclusive on the continent, where China’s influence is growing.

With an estimated funding deficit of $40 billion a year, private-sector solutions from Africa’s home-grown pension fund industry as well as international insurance firms could help plug the gap.

Infrastructure spending requires the hand of the state to put finance in place.

The African Development Bank has approved a US$1.5 million grant from to assist Ghana’s s renewable energy investment drive. The grant will support the government’s efforts to overcome technical, financial, regulatory and institutional barriers to scaling-up renewable energy investments in the country.

In Johannesburg last month, the Prime Minister set a new ambition for the UK to be the largest G7 foreign direct investor in Africa by 2022. Achieving that ambition won’t be easy, but for UK investors who are prepared to change their attitudes and look beyond the easy choices, there are great opportunities.

New research by Mercer and Mobilizing Institutional Investors to Develop Africa’s Infrastructure (MiDA), finds that organisations should be proactive with their infrastructure investment strategy and should be considering the benefits of investment in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has signed a 10-year loan programme of €100 million with the African Export-Import Bank to finance various infrastructure projects in African countries.

While investment in building and maintaining intra-country road networks has been slow in coming, connecting Africa via the internet has lately made more progress.

The Russia-Africa Investment Forum is one of the platforms that seeks to promote business opportunities on the African continent and serves as a bridge between Russian and African business.

For many years now, the EU's Africa policy has been a graveyard of big words, good intentions and unfulfilled promises. However, since the refugee crisis interest in a new strategy for cooperation with the continent has increased sharply.

The African Union Commission and its partners have launched a water project that will see US$10bn invested over five years to support infrastructure for trans-boundary water and hydropower projects, as part of a thrust towards regional economic integration.

Beijing’s funding could do tremendous good—if Africans fight for their own real interests.