In a race to develop and power up citizens, Europe and Asia are right in front, and Africa doesn’t seem to even appear much on the racing track.
This is the picture painted by the latest report (2021) on private investment in infrastructure by continent and country. Approximately $76.2 billion was invested by private companies in global infrastructure according to a report by the World Bank (dated May 2021). This amount is a 49% increase from the previous year (2020).
Investment of about $15 billion was injected mainly into developed economies such as Europe and Central Asia. This is a 400% increase compared to a COVID-stricken period in 2020. An airport in Antalya, Turkey, was financed to the tune of $8 billion while a public-private partnership program in Uzbekistan received $2.2 billion for five of its projects. A chunk of the amount of $28.1 billion went to the East Asia Pacific and the remaining 18.6 billion financed Latin America and the Caribbean.
Private investment decreased drastically in the Middle East and Maghreb by a whooping 90%.
Sub Saharan Africa realized a 17% decrease from private funding.
The global economy is estimated to slide from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.9% in 2023 and then rise to 3.1% in 2024. The 2023 figure is 0.2% higher than the projection in the October 2022 World Economic Outlook but lower than the historical data of 2000-2019.
Acting Chief economist at Deloitte & Touche, Hannah Marais, says the private investment figures in the report were based on information provided by National Treasury via its website, including the Budget Review released in February, as well as the SARB Quarterly Bulletin.
According to Africa Events Limited, organisers of conferences encouraging investment into the African continent, one of the primary reasons to invest in Africa is its rapidly growing population, which is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, making it the largest market in the world. This presents opportunities for investors in various sectors, including healthcare, education, and infrastructure development. Over 60% of this market are young people under the age of 25.
This is despite a myriad of challenges including political instability, corruption, crime and others.
Africa is poised to outpace the rest of the world in economic growth as its real Gross Domestic Product is projected to average 4% in 2023 and 2024, according to Africa’s Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook, a report published by the African Development Bank.
The report also predicts that Africa’s top five performing economies in the pre-COVID era will grow by more than 5.5% on average in 2023-2024 and also reclaim their positions in the top ten economies of the world. The five economies include Rwanda (7.9%), Cote d’Ivoire (7.1%), Benin (6.4%), Ethiopia (6.0%), and Tanzania (5.6%).
Other African countries that are projected to grow above 5.5% in the report are the Democratic Republic of Congo (6.8%), The Gambia (6.4%), Mozambique (6.5%), Niger (9.6%), Senegal (9.4%), and Togo (6.3%).