AFRICAN Development Bank (AdDB) president Akinwumi Adesina says digital infrastructure is going to be the key for Africa’s accelerated growth and development.
The AfDB boss was speaking last week during a five-day annual meeting of the bank held in Nairobi, Kenya.
Adesina said it was crucial for Africa to understand that the resilience of African economies was not just having real gross domestic product growth but being able to get people out of poverty.
The AfDB chief made the remarks during the release of the 2024 African Economic Outlook.
“Well, if you are moving to a low-productive agricultural sector and you are moving to a low-productive service sector, you still move. And therefore, we have to not only raise the productivity of that service sector but also make sure that we have the enablers of structural transformation,” Adesina said.
“And, those enablers are the things that we do as a bank, that you support us to do, which is infrastructure. So, if I go and have infrastructure, you will grow, energy infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and water and sanitation infrastructure.”
He said digital infrastructure was going to be key for Africa’s accelerated growth and development.
In earlier sessions during the annual meetings, Adesina stressed that infrastructure was still essential for the continent’s effective transformation.
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The AfDB boss highlighted how this infrastructure includes upgrading the ports, railroads, power transmission lines, and transit routes.
Adesina reaffirmed the group’s dedication to improving infrastructure and that the bank had made approximately US$50 billion in infrastructure investments across the continent.
Investments were made in transportation routes, ports and airports to digital infrastructure, water and sanitation.
“Thus, as the African Development Bank, we will keep advocating for increased infrastructure. For this reason, the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa was established. Because Africa is still constructing its infrastructure, that coalition seeks to raise US$10 billion in private sector funding for it,” Adesina said.
He added that energy was essential for the continent’s economic change since industrialisation cannot occur in the dark.“When you lack power, it is impossible to expand economies and remain competitive in the dark,” Adesina said.
