Africa must shift away from a dependency on foreign infrastructure financing and begin to unlock the potential of its own substantial financial resources, according to the Africa Finance Corporation.
The organisation's State of Africa's Infrastructure Report 2025 argues that Africa is not lacking in capital - it points to over 4 trillion in domestic resources, including commercial bank assets, pension funds, remittances, and sovereign wealth - but is failing to fully leverage what it already possesses.
"Financing this infrastructure transformation must begin with African capital. The future of African infrastructure depends on African finance," writes AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu.
"That means building deeper financial markets, strengthening development finance institutions, and unlocking long-term domestic capital. Pension funds, insurance pools, sovereign wealth funds, and diaspora remittances represent stable, patient sources of finance that remain largely untapped."
The report says that of the estimated 4 trillion in domestic resources, 1.6 trillion can be found in the non-bank sector: 455bn in pensions, 320bn in insurance, 250bn in public development banks, 150bn in sovereign wealth funds, and 473bn in foreign reserves, including 38bn in gold holdings.