Africa-Press – Eritrea. EXPERTS at the 4th Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025) warned that Africa is far off track from meeting its Agenda 2063 targets unless governments and financial institutions embrace bold new financing strategies and collective action.
The African Union blueprint assumed average annual growth of 7 percent across the continent. But according to Shelter Afrique’s Thierno-Habiv Hann, Africa is averaging only 3 percent growth, meaning the continent must accelerate to 10 percent annually to recover lost ground. “We have a housing deficit of 52 million units. At an affordable cost of 25,000 US dollars per unit, that’s more than 1 trillion US dollars in financing needs — nearly the size of Africa’s entire multilateral balance sheet,” Hann said.
Speakers pointed to infrastructure, energy and housing as the most urgent priorities. Dr. Tshepelayi Kabata of BADEA said infrastructure is the key enabler. “Our priority must be to derisk big projects in transport and energy so the private sector can come in. We are supporting institutions like Shelter Afrique with debt-to-equity tools to help them recapitalize,” he said.
Afreximbank’s incoming president, Dr. George Elombi, stressed that industrialization must underpin Africa’s growth. “We must process what we produce. Wealth creation requires industry. Yet, our institutions are fragmented and underfunded. Even if you combine Afreximbank, AfDB, Shelter Afrique and ZEP-RE, we cannot match two Chinese banks’ exposure in Africa,” he said. “This cannot continue — we must act as one system.”
ZEP-RE’s Benjamin Kamanga argued that insurance is often the missing link. “Smallholder farmers and SMEs — the backbone of our economies — have almost no access to insurance. When disaster hits, the government borrows, worsening debt. We are piloting tech solutions with the World Bank to insure pastoralists in Ethiopia and SMEs across Africa. This protection is critical for stability and investment,” he said.
AfDB’s Ousmane Fall noted that the bank has already invested over 3 billion US dollars in Africa’s multilateral institutions. “We want MFIs to join us in leveraging IMF resources. With 5 billion US dollars from the IMF, we can raise more than 25 billion US dollars. Only by pooling our resources can we get back on track for the SDGs and Agenda 2063,” he said.
FEDA’s Marlene Ngoyi urged a mindset shift. “Agenda 2063 is about Africa taking its destiny in its own hands. We need to produce what we consume, empower our youth, and break free from colonial trade barriers,” she said.
With Africa’s annual financing gap still at 200 billion US dollars, panelists agreed that without urgent reforms, the “Africa We Want” risks remaining a dream.
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