New Telegraph

AfDB boss lays out steps for infrastructure financing

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has commended U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen and the Biden Administration for mobilising development resources to expand infrastructure financing, which he said was critical for Africa and other parts of the developing world.

 

 

Speaking at the virtual roundtable, which Yellen hosted for G-7 ministers and heads of multilateral development banks, he said that the AfDB, the premier financier of infrastructure in Africa, had committed more than $44 billion to infrastructure across the continent in the last six years alone, in such critical areas as transport, energy, and water and sanitation.

 

He said despite collective efforts, Africa still faced an infrastructure financing gap of $68 to 108 billion annually. Adesina said project preparation facilities were critical to develop bankable infrastructure projects, given that one of the major challenges in infrastructure projects was moving commercially viable projects to financial close.

 

He also spoke about the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility — the special fund established to promote regional integration and support African countries in preparing quality, bankable projects to attract investments from both the public and private sector.

 

He said the facility had so far catalysed $25 billion in downstream investments for integrating infrastructure.

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