President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has again noted the need for governments across the continent to take seriously the huge infrastructure gap waiting to be addressed.
Speaking to ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’ host Eleni Giokos, Adesina, who spoke against the backdrop of an estimated $100bn infrastructure deficit in Africa, which has damaged Economic growth in the continent, lamented that “Africa loses roughly about four to five percent of its GDP because of weak infrastructure.”
Many countries in Africa are investing billions to improve their transportation, housing and energy needs, but the continent remains far behind where it needs to be, a situation the AfDB boss said poses a serious problem for businesses trading in the continent.
“You can’t connect landlocked countries to the ports. This means its takes a long time for your goods and services to actually get out to the global market, which is a huge disadvantage,” he stressed.
On its part, AfDB has invested almost $2bn in Africa’s power sector alone, while according to Delloite, African governments fund less than 30% of major construction projects.
However, Adesina believes that it’s not just money that’s needed, because, as he stressed, “money is (not) the problem. I believe that getting the right projects that are bankable – that is the real issue.”
Adesina suggests that attracting foreign investors is the way forward, adding that “there’s pools of savings, pools of capital out there in the world. Roughly about $5 trillion of savings pool each year. If Africa is able to attract just one percent of that, it will close its infrastructure gap.”