Spending by African governments on Infrastructure

National governments were the largest recorded source of infrastructure financing in Africa during 2021–2023. Their budget commitments support transport, energy, water and sanitation, and ICT infrastructure, while also reflecting governments’ different fiscal capacities.

Government infrastructure commitments

Infrastructure allocations recorded from national budgets increased from US$53.6 billion in 2021 to US$58.6 billion in 2022, before easing to US$56.4 billion in 2023. Transport accounted for a particularly large share of the sectoral allocations shown below.

Differences between regions

North Africa recorded especially high commitments, influenced by Egypt’s infrastructure budget. These regional differences reflect both investment priorities and the scale of national budgets; they should not automatically be interpreted as differences in project delivery.

A comparability caveat

The report’s government budget dataset covers 51 countries and includes several countries not captured in earlier editions. Part of the apparent increase relative to 2019–2020 therefore reflects broader reporting coverage, not solely higher spending by the same countries.

What this means for financing

The central role of national budgets demonstrates public commitment to infrastructure. However, debt-service pressures and limited fiscal space constrain governments’ ability to meet rising needs alone, reinforcing the importance of complementary development and private financing.