Skip navigation
Financing African Infrastructure
Report

Financing African Infrastructure

Can the World Deliver?


auto-generated audio
auto-generated audio

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Innovative

Recommendation

In 2009, the World Bank, international institutions and global donors called for massive infrastructure investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. The world listened, and support flooded in. This Brookings Institution report offers a comprehensive, instructive and well-annotated analysis of the origin and distribution of these investments by sector across the region. More important, the study focuses on a set of critical recommendations that brings the need for greater oversight and better planning and governance into sharper focus. getAbstract believes investors, bankers, policy makers, nongovernmental organization leaders, and development and multilateral donor groups will appreciate this timely work.

Summary

While international infrastructure investment into Sub-Saharan Africa has grown by 200% from 2004 to 2012, a chronic “infrastructure gap” of $93 billion per year presents a barrier to growth and to relieving persistent poverty. External financing originates from three main sources: 1) “private participation in infrastructure” (PPI); 2) “official development finance” (ODF) from bilateral and multilateral institutions, and 3) “official Chinese financing.” While it takes time to gauge the effectiveness of these investments, several critical findings paint...

About the Authors

Jeffrey Gutman is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where Amadou Sy is director of the Africa Growth Initiative and Soumya Chattopadhyay is a senior research associate.