Cape Town – Bringing electricity to 300 million Africans in under six years.
That is the ambitious goal that the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have set for themselves, reports Afrik 21.
#WBGMeetings wrap up:
➡️Energy access for 300M Africans with @AfDB_Group
➡️Expanded health services for 1.5B by 2030
➡️$11B pledged by 11 countries for development
➡️New Collaborative Co-Financing Platform
➡️Becoming a Better Bank
➡️Report on @WBG_IDA https://t.co/Ngc7ueuTRo— World Bank (@WorldBank) April 22, 2024
The two institutions signed the deal at the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC on 17 April 2024, committing themselves to halving the number of Africans living with electricity, currently estimated at 600 million.
The World Bank will take on the bulk of the mammoth task, agreeing to spend US$30 billion on bringing electricity to 250 million Africans by 2030.
For its part, the AfDB will help to provide electricity to 50 million Africans by 2030.
‘No economy can industrialise in the dark, and no economy can be competitive in the dark,’ AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina said in Washington.
‘Africa, in my view, is tired of being in the dark.’
Both banking institutions also encouraged the private sector and other financing organisations to invest in the continent-wide electrification project.
The World Bank estimated that its US$30 billion investment would catalyse US$9 billion in private-sector investment, mainly in renewable technologies.
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