Report: Who is Really Bridging Africa’s Infrastructure Financing Gaps?

[July 2025] It’s no secret that the African continent faces a persistent infrastructure financing gap. The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates the continent needs at least USD 86.7 billion annually to meet Agenda 2063 goals, with 76% required for infrastructure. Here at Development Reimagined, our own estimates based on 13 African countries places the annual gap between USD 108.9 – 49.9 billion through 2030. In our new first-of-its-kind report, we find that African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AMFIs) contribute approximately 8% of African infrastructure financing.

Within this, there is a critical gap in the analysis and impact of Africa’s regional development finance institutions (DFIs) and AMFIs on infrastructure development across the continent.

This report explores regional development bank’s role and impact in reducing Africa’s infrastructure gap, including the AfDB, West African Development Bank (BOAD), ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Trade Development Bank (TDB), and Africa Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank. It examines;

• The role of AMFIs in African infrastructure development
• Scale and trends of infrastructure financing, including key drivers and impediments
• Comparative analysis of AMFIs infrastructure financing between African countries and other regions

The report covers five infrastructure categories: transport and trade, energy, ICT, water and sanitation, and soft infrastructure. We have five key findings and implications for policymakers:

1. There are differences across financial institutions in the level of financing and focus areas, with the AfDB financing most of the infrastructure spending in the continent.
2. Since 2000, soft infrastructure has received most of the financing in aggregate in comparison with disintegrated sectors. This is followed by energy, as well as transport and trade, whilst the ICT and the water and sanitation sectors have received the lowest levels of infrastructure finance.
3. Although there has been an increase in financing from financial institutions such as AfDB, DBSA and BOAD, several decline periods can be identified, meaning that there is no continuous upward trend in infrastructure financing.
4. AMFIs with reduced levels of financing do not have relative increases in project financing and lack the capacity to ensure that sectors, such as ICT and water and sanitation, are prioritised.
5. Periods with higher levels of infrastructure financing are mostly years in which there are large projects that are also co-financed with partners and governments.

Below are a few recommendations Development Reimagined proposes based on findings:

For African governments,

1. Infrastructure projects should be better aligned with African priorities
2. There is a need to effectively reform credit rating agencies and Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), especially concerning low- and low-middle-income countries.
3. African countries should use appropriate mechanisms to leverage the untapped potential of institutional investors.
4. A reformed financial architecture that utilises reimagined financing solutions is needed to support infrastructure development.

While for banks and financiers,

1. The system of financial institution budget financing should be reformed for better alignment.
2. Funding from outside the continent should be deployed to AMFIs, which possess a deeper contextual understanding of African countries’ development.
3. Bilateral partners must increase financing at concessional rates to speed up transformation development across the continent