The African Development Bank (AfDB) has reported that the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) Market Days held this year drew a total of $63.8 billion in investment interest from African and global investors to the continent.
The development finance institution gave this figures in a statement hoisted on its website on Monday.
According to the bank, the 2021 Africa Investment Forum Market Days, which was rescheduled to March this year and the recently concluded 2022 event, helped to raise $32.8 billion and $31 billion respectively.
Commenting on the development, AfDB’s President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, lauded the outcome of the events and the partners’ commitment, stressing that the Africa Investment Forum’s focus is to attract more foreign direct investment to Africa and ensure the private sector remains the driving force of that transformation.
He said: “Despite the challenges, we are not afraid, and neither have we despaired nor lost hope. We are excited and committed to a collective goal… accelerating the closure of deals to transform Africa and its investment landscape.
“The private sector is Africa’s growth accelerator. We must mitigate real and perceived risks and persuade the private sector that investing in Africa is safe”, Adesina stressed.
In his remarks, the President/CEO of Africa Finance Corporation, Samaila Zubairu also pointed out that
“the current global economic challenges “ indicate the critical need to build Africa’s self-sufficiency by investing in resilient infrastructure. Such critical investment is needed to drive Africa’s industrialization and economic prosperity.”
This is even as the CEO of Africa50, Alain Ebobisse, said that the AIF presented a timely platform to help scale up and speed up investments into Africa. According to him, attracting new pools of capital into infrastructure would be critical.
In addition, Afreximbank’s President, Benedict Oramah said the AIF reflected the interest and optimism of global investors towards the continent and its opportunities.
He said: “We close, knowing that the AIF, Africa’s largest transactional investment marketplace, continues to be a huge success. Moreover, the event serves as a measure of international confidence in Africa’s economic and political development, and the unmatched investment opportunities this is creating.”
