The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said that African countries’ default rate in infrastructure financing is one of the lowest globally.
The development finance banker made this disclosure during his address to participants at the African Investment Forum (AIF) with the theme ‘Unlocking Africa’s Value Chains’ held in Marrakech, Morocco
The AfDB’s President pointed out that given the low default rate of many of the countries, the economies availed some of the most promising investment prospects globally.
He said: “As investors, put your monies where the future is. The future is in Africa and investors should see Africa not from what they hear, but from what the facts say.
“Moody’s Analytics analyzed default rates on infrastructure financing globally over the past 14 years. The result is, that Africa’s default rate is the lowest in the world at 2.1% compared to Eastern Europe well over 10%, and Asia well over 8%.
“Africa is not as risky as you perceive. Private equity and venture capital in Africa soared year over year to 7.70 billion dollars”, Adesina added
According to him at the AIF event last year, the Lagos-Abidjan highway secured a $15.5 billion investment.
Adesina explained that the development of this corridor held great potential to positively impact the entire West African sub-regional development by accelerating regional integration, fostering sustainable economic growth, and promoting trade.
He further clarified: “At the 2022 African Investment Forum market desk, the Abidjan-Lagos was able to secure $15.5 billion of investment interest. This corridor will transform the entire West African region and speed up regional integration and trade.
“In 2022, investment interests were secured for $3.6 billion for the East Africa Railway Corridor, linking Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi.
“We are delighted that the AIF has so far closed on deals’ investment gaps worth $11 billion.
“This ranged from liquefied natural gas, renewable energy, agribusiness, industrial manufacturing, creative industry, housing, and transport. It is time again for investment action, it is time to do it again”, the AfDB’s boss added.
