Platform on Investment in Africa

Even before the COVID-19 crisis stopped the continent’s economic growth in its tracks, Africa was facing a deficit in domestic and foreign productive investment. Levels were too low to either match the needs of a fast growing, increasingly urban, working-age population, or improve the insertion of the continent in the global economy: on the eve of the pandemic, decent jobs remained the exception, and labour productivity had declined to about half the Asian average. As African governments refine their post-COVID recovery strategies, therefore, they are not only aiming at stimulating more robust, inclusive and sustainable types of productive investment. Given the impact of the crisis on their fiscal space, however, such a reboot requires both innovative policies to mobilise and allocate resources more effectively, and better co-ordination amongst all African stakeholders and their international partners.