BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
In six years of operation, Africa50, the investment arm of the African Development Bank, has invested in critical infrastructure with a total value of more than $6.6 billion in the continent.
African Development Bank Group President, Akinwumi Adesina, who made the disclosure during the Africa50 Infra Forum and General Shareholders Meeting in Togo’s capital Lomé, recently, said the fund will catalyse further investment flows to invest in the development of critical infrastructure across the African continent.
Adesina noted that Africa50 was rapidly playing a strategic role in closing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap, from energy to transport and logistics to digital infrastructure.
His words, “Africa50 is doing amazing work as an institution, developing projects to bankability and financing projects. At the heart of our work is to help close the $68 billion to $108 billion annual infrastructure financing gap for Africa.”
Speaking about financial resources for Africa’s development needs, Adesina said the reallocation of International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) through the African Development Bank would mean much more funding to support all the regional development banks in Africa as well as Africa50.
He explained that these resources would unlock additional resources to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation, infrastructure for agriculture, transport, digital, airports, water and sanitation, education, as well as health.
He added that the added resources would support African countries like Togo, where the African Development Bank has invested heavily and is the largest development partner supporting the country’s agricultural sector.
The African Development Bank invested more than $32 million to support inclusive growth in the sector, helping to reduce the importation of key food commodities s like rice, maize, and soybeans.
Speaking later at the Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund signing event, Adesina said, “This is the time to change the investment narrative on Africa. It is remarkable and unprecedented to have 17 African institutions participating in such a transforming initiative to invest in an African infrastructure fund. With the Fund, we are positioning the Africa50 Group to play a lead role in helping to tap into the more than $98 trillion of global assets under management.”
The African Development Bank is investing $20 million in equity in the African Infrastructure Acceleration Fund.
