According to a new joint report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the African Union Commission, Africa could double its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2040 if investments in its infrastructure were increased to 155 billion dollars per year.
Entitled “Africa’s Development Dynamics 2025: Infrastructure, Growth and Transformation”, the report notes that between 2016 and 2020, an average of 83 billion dollars per year was invested in infrastructure in Africa, equivalent to 3% of the continent’s GDP.
By raising these investments to 155 billion dollars per year—equivalent to 5.6% of Africa’s 2024 GDP—growth could be boosted by 4.5 percentage points annually. This would help surpass the African Union’s Agenda 2063 target of 7% annual growth and more than double Africa’s GDP by 2040, the report states.
Furthermore, African governments account for 41% of infrastructure investment spending and therefore have “a central role” to play in increasing investment in this area, according to the publication.
However, “budget constraints” and rising debt weigh heavily on public finances: between 2019 and 2023, African states spent on average seven times more on debt servicing than on infrastructure, the report indicates.
Bilateral and multilateral development partners finance 48% of Africa’s infrastructure investments, according to the same source.
