Africa faces an infrastructure financing gap of $170 billion per year, Hanan Morsy, deputy executive secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said on Saturday.
The deputy executive secretary made the remark at the ongoing 43rd Session of the Committee of Experts meeting ahead of the Economic Commission for Africa’s 57th session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
She said Africa stands at a crossroads, facing deep-rooted structural challenges—low levels of intra-African trade, persistent infrastructure gaps, and limited industrialisation.
Morsy is optimistic that these challenges can be addressed through harnessing Africa’s vibrant and innovative youth population and cutting-edge technologies.
“In a global landscape marked by shifting power dynamics and digital disruption, Africa cannot afford to sit back. We must shape the future. And the African Continental Free Trade Area—AfCFTA—is our opportunity to do just that,” she said.
She said the AfCFTA is not just about trade. It is about transformation, creating jobs, driving industrialization, building resilience, and ensuring that Africa’s growth is not just sustained, but inclusive.
The AfCFTA agreement holds the potential to increase intra-African trade by 45 percent by 2045, boost GDP by 1.2 percent and lift millions out of poverty.
She said Africa faces an infrastructure financing gap of $170 billion per year and the continent needs to embrace innovative financing—public-private partnerships, blended finance, regional collaboration to address the financing gap on infrastructure.
MG/as/APA