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THE African Development Bank (AfDB) says Africa’s economic outlook is positive and international investors should promote private sector participation to accelarate the development of the continent.

During a recent virtual conference hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its partners, AfDB said  groundwork has already been laid for investors who are looking to invest in Africa.

In a statement, AfDB quoted its acting senior vice president and chief financial officer Ms Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala as saying that Africa has great prospects for investors, with a growing consumer market that Indian investors cannot afford to miss.

“The positive outlook for Africa is reinforced by the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to deepen regional integration across the continent and allow the free movement of people and trade across borders,” she said.

Ms Tshabalala said there was a tremendous opportunity for Indian industry to work together with the bank in sectors such as power generation and transmission, energy, agricultural transformation, health care and phamaceuticals, technology, transportation and industrialisation.

Presently, the bank is seeking to expand the number of bankable projects in Africa and has set aside US$100 million for project preparation activities in low income countries.

The regional financier said it is also keen to mobilise greater private sector participation in the above projects in all African countries. 

During the virtual conference delegates also called for Indo-African partnerships to go beyond government-to-government co-operation and promote private sector participation in order to accelerate Africa’s development.

India’s additional secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Mr Akhilesh Mishra urged the private sector to consider investing in youth and startups saying such sectors have enormous potential for employment generation.

He said aside from the long-term funding traditionally provided as official development assistance, African countries will require more targeted short-term funding.

Export-Import Bank of India managing director Mr David Raquinha underscored the need to expand Indian financial inflows to Africa by expanding the Indian banking network. 

He said India and Africa could work together in areas such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, the financial sector and infrastructure development. 

AfDB’s syndications, co-financing and client solutions economic analyst Ms Nana Spio-Garbrah spoke on the Bank’s capacity to mitigate risk for foreign investors, especially during this era of Covid-19.

During the conference she also talked about the bank’s Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) and Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG), which has been upgraded to meet client needs better. 

The conference was supported by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the African Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of India, and other organisations.

AfDB and India have a long-standing strategic partnership dating back almost 40 years to 1982, when India first joined the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional arm of the Bank Group. 

A year later the country became a shareholder of the African Development Bank.