Friday@Noon on Infrastructure in Africa: 2018
by Johan Burger
The NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies publishes a weekly newsletter on issues relevant to Africa. This paper is based on issues addressed in the newsletter.
General
Africa has vast infrastructure needs. According to the AfDB, Africa's infrastructure requirements are estimated to be between US$130 billion and US$170 billion, far higher than the previous estimation of US$93 billion a year. The AfDB’s 2018 Annual Report said the new estimates left a financing gap of US$108 billion. Given this, and urgent needs in health, education, administrative capacity, and security, Africa has to attract private capital to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure needed to unleash its potential. African countries do not need to wait until all financing gaps are filled before the...