About this report
Message from our CEO: Harnessing private capital to catalyse African growth
Against an international backdrop of changing political and economic priorities, Africa must take charge of industrialisation to unlock the considerable potential the young, rapidly urbanising population and growing consumer class offers.
Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent. Economic growth across the continent continues to strengthen, reaching an estimated 3,5% in 2018, and is projected to accelerate to 4% in 2019 and 4,1% in 2020. According to the African Development Bank, the working-age population will rise from
705 million in 2018 to nearly 1 billion by 2030.
As economies grow, there is an increasing demand for economic infrastructure such as roads, bridges, ports, railways, dams and power grids as well as social infrastructure such as housing and health services. In addition, the continent needs to create millions of new jobs to prevent rising unemployment, reduce poverty and address inequality.
