Akinwumi Adesina, head, African Development Bank( AfDB) believes the continent will grow by around 4.2% next year, compared to 2.2 % in 2016, even as he says this is not fast enough.
The former Nigerian agriculture minister who is at the forefront of selling Africa to foreign investors at the World Economic Forum (WEF) said at the ongoing global meeting in Davos, Switzerland: “Everyone knows Africa is the place to invest.
“We really need double digit growth in Africa. People can’t eat GDP figures and we really need a lot of growth to free people from poverty.”
Investment must come from within Africa as well as without, if this dream of double digit growth is to become reality, CNBC Africa reports Adesina as saying.
Sovereign wealth funds and pension funds in Africa are worth an estimated $670 billion and more than a trillion within the next decade. Adesina believes this money should be ploughed into creating jobs for the growing number of Africans leaving college and school.
The AfDB boss who will hold an investor conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 7 and 8, further said: “We do not want just talk. We want to get global investors together at this conference in November to make sure that things happen.”
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