AfDB Partners African Nations to Narrow Continent’s Investment Gaps

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is billed to embark on a roadshow in Abuja, to mobilise key stakeholders towards putting together a pipeline of bankable projects ahead of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF), which is designed to bridge the continent’s investment gaps, particularly in infrastructure.

AIF represents Africa’s own investment marketplace for accelerated economic transformation.

The Abuja roadshow, which precedes the AIF, will hold on July 10, 2018, while the investment forum is scheduled for
between November 7 and 9 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Working with multilateral institutions, the private sector and governments, the AfDB is helping Nigeria and other African countries to develop investment-ready projects for investors, fund managers and others managing substantial assets.

Through the AIF, the Bank and its partners will screen and enhance bankable projects, attract co-investors, and facilitate transactions to close Africa’s investment gaps, estimated at between $200 billion to $ 1.2 trillion a year.

Infrastructure financing needs alone are estimated at $130 billion to $170 billion a year, with total commitments standing at just $63 billion as at 2016, representing a financing gap of approximately $67 to $107 billion a year, in just infrastructure.

Nigeria’s National Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) 2014-2044 estimates that the country needs about $3 trillion over the next 30 years to bridge its infrastructure financing gap.

The AfDB is convinced that traditional fund providers at different levels of government do not have the required resources, and believes that external funding sources are therefore inevitable over the long-term.

The Abuja roadshow will include a briefing session, interaction with key industry players, and presentations from Nigeria’s senior Presidency and Finance Ministry officials on the country’s development priorities and project pipeline that could benefit from the AIF partnership.

The roadshow, the AfDB said, is in line with its continued efforts to support Nigeria and other African countries to accelerate the development of infrastructure.

The build-up to AIF kicked off with an official launch in South Africa on May 8.

Speaking at the event, the Premier of the Gauteng Province, the host province of the inaugural AIF, David Makhura, endorsed the Forum as a world-class initiative that is uniquely positioned to transform the continent’s development landscape.

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