Africa's infrastructure financing needs could reach around $170 billion per year by 2025. Similarly, funding gaps could range from $68 billion to $108 billion per year. To reduce these gaps, public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Africa are seen as a key element in bridging this gap by involving private sector investment in infrastructure.

During a webinar organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB) on the theme "Design of the African Development Bank's PPP Framework", it was recalled that between 2008 and 2018, five African countries accounted for more than 50% of successful PPP activities: Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Ghana. "Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the African infrastructure sector was already struggling to structure projects adapted for the private sector, and able to achieve an adequate quality-pri ratio for the public sector and, at the same time, affordable for users," said Solomon Quaynor, the Bank's Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization.

Participants at the meeting expressed the hope that the Bank would play a greater role in supporting the development of PPPs in Africa. This by strengthening policy and regulatory frameworks as well as the capacities of governments, structuring projects and providing advisory services, and providing financial instruments such as ceu offering ways to mitigate risks, guarantees, improvements in the conditions of allocation of credits, and funding in local currency.