AfDB secures $31 billion at investment forum

African Development Bank, AFDB, has disclosed that it realised $31 billion in investment commitments for projects during the Africa Investment Forum.

President, AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, said it brought the total investment for the year to about $64 billion.

The AfDB president said the projects would include agricultural processing zones, saying: “Despite the challenges, we are not afraid, and neither have we despaired nor lost hope. We are excited and committed to a collective goal of accelerating the closure of deals to transform Africa and its investment landscape.

“The private sector is Africa’s growth accelerator. We must mitigate real and perceived risks and persuade the private sector that investing in Africa is safe.”

Adesina further added that the investment forum’s focus is to attract more foreign direct investment to Africa and to ensure the private sector remains the driving force of that transformation.

Projects announced earlier in the year were from agriculture and agro-processing, education, energy and climate, healthcare, minerals and mining, and information and communications technology.

In March, AfDB secured $32.8 billion in investment commitments for projects in Africa, of which $15.6 billion was for the Lagos-Abidjan highway corridor .