Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Africa’s private sector has the potential to generate the economic growth needed to minimize the impact of Western cuts to development aid, two of the continent’s top bankers told Semafor.
The slashing of US aid spending has created funding shortfalls for African countries that relied heavily on American assistance for health and energy programs.
South African banker Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of the UK’s development agency British International Investment, said ending the era of “aid dependence” was a positive development. Maasdorp, speaking at Semafor’s World Economy Summit in Washington, DC, added that private capital could replace some of the funding that used to come from governments. “We need to mobilize third-party money from pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, from the institutional investor community,” he said.
James Mwangi, CEO of East Africa’s largest banking group Equity Holdings, said a ready supply of minerals needed for the energy transition and a youthful labor force were sources of optimism: “Africa is in a very good position to reorganize the global market,” he told the World Economy Summit.
— Alexis
