Africa’s infrastructure investment has recovered, but is unevenly distributed

Commitments for Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) across 263 projects in Africa were worth $91.7 billion in 2022, a 23% increase from 2021, according to the World Bank’s latest data projection on investments, which demonstrates that infrastructure investments in low- and middle-income countries have started to recover.

But in terms of “the total number of projects, however, it is still below pre-pandemic levels,” World Bank says. Although the trends point to an overall recovery, the Washington-based lender claims that investments were unevenly distributed and concentrated in certain areas. For instance, although Sub-Saharan Africa had the most PPI transactions per country and project over the previous ten years, investments in the region fell by 15% from the average over the previous five years.

The World Bank points out that in the time under consideration, 30 projects totaling $4.7 billion in investment pledges were made to the world’s 18 poorest countries, 18 of which are members of the International Development Associations (IDA). “This represents more than a 26% increase in investment levels compared to 2021, but also a 22% lower investment level than the past five-year average of $6.1 billion,” a statement by the Washington-based bank reads.

The World Bank’s international financial organization IDA provides grants and concessional loans to the world’s poorest developing nations.