African leaders have launched a new continent-led infrastructure financing platform aimed at mobilising domestic capital and reducing reliance on external funding systems, officials said.
The Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFF) was formally unveiled during a high-level dialogue of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI) on the sidelines of the 39th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa.
The facility, established under a cooperation framework between AUDA-NEPAD and AAMFI, is designed to accelerate project preparation and facilitate indicative, non-binding engagement on financing for priority cross-border infrastructure projects aligned with Agenda 2063.
African policymakers have long argued that despite significant domestic capital pools, infrastructure development remains constrained by fragmented capital markets, high borrowing costs and dependence on external financial systems.
President John Dramani Mahama said the issue was not a lack of funds but how they are deployed.
“Africa has domestic capital pools exceeding $2.5 trillion,” Mahama stated. “The challenge is not the availability of capital, but how intentionally we deploy it into infrastructure, industrialization, and job creation to realize Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
Officials estimate the continent’s infrastructure financing gap at roughly $221 billion annually between 2023 and 2030.
Representing the African Union Commission, Commissioner Francisca Tatchouop Belobe said: “The launch of the AIFF is a powerful demonstration of what can be achieved when political will and institutional coordination converge. We are confident that this Facility will contribute meaningfully to closing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap, estimated at approximately US$221 billion annually over the period 2023 to 2030.”
Samaila Zubairu, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation and outgoing Chairman of AAMFI, highlighted the scale of coordinated African financial institutions.
“The Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions represents over $70 billion in balance sheets, working together to close Africa’s trade, investment, and development financing gaps,” he said. “Our collective action is central to mobilizing the resources needed to deliver transformative infrastructure and regional integration.”
Dr. George Elombi, President of Afreximbank, said the facility was designed to address weaknesses in project preparation.
“The Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility has been designed to address the most persistent constraint to infrastructure delivery in Africa: the gap between political approval and financial execution,” Elombi said. “Too many projects stall not because they lack relevance, but because they are insufficiently prepared, inadequately structured, or misaligned with the requirements of long-term capital.”
In a related development, Cameroon deposited its instrument of ratification for the Protocol and Statutes of the African Monetary Fund, a move officials said strengthens efforts to operationalise African Union financial institutions aimed at enhancing macroeconomic stability and monetary cooperation.
The AIFF was launched under a Cooperation Framework Agreement between AUDA-NEPAD and AAMFI, according to a statement distributed by Afreximbank via APO Group.
