World Economic Forum kicks off first African CFR for SDGs in Ghana

• Country Financing Roadmap aims to increase private investments
• Nation first in Africa to launch Country Financing Roadmap
• To benefit $431.6bn financing gap to meet SDGs

Once again, Nigeria was left in the lurch by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to pick its West African neighbour Ghana, as the launch area of the first Country Financing Roadmap (CFR) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa.

Ghana is the first country in which the CFR was released. It is piloting the initiative which will serve as a blueprint for other countries. The effort is funded and supported by the European Commission (EC) and the Danish International Development Agency (DIDA).

The Country Financing Roadmap is a new country-led approach developed with the WEF to improve long-term competitiveness and bring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to life.

The CFR presents a set of country-led plans to encourage greater financing at scale, especially private-sector participation, to meet the SDGs by 2030. The CFR has focused on financing sustainable infrastructure, a key indicator and driver of economic growth and development, which often hampers the ability of a country to attract sizeable investment if left behind, according to the World Bank. The CFR also focuses on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector as it represents about 85 per cent of business within the private sector and contributes to 70 per cent of GDP, according to the report.

According to WEF, the Country Financing Roadmap aims to increase private investments to help close the $431.6 billion financing gap until 2030 to meet Ghana’s SDGs.

As the largest financer of SDGs, the Government of Ghana wants to build public-private cooperation to balance investments from both sides.

The WEF, in a statement in Geneva, said the CFR is a country-led initiative – in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership, a joint initiative between the WEF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – with concrete solutions to drive greater private sector participation in financing the SDGs.

WEF described Ghana as “one of Africa’s leading and most stable economies, faces a number of barriers to meet its SDGs, a situation exacerbated by the extended COVID-19 crisis.”

The total costs required to achieve the SDGs in Ghana is estimated at $522.3 billion by the end of 2030, averaging around $52.2 billion a year. The current SDG financing gap for the next 10 years is $431.6 billion, with $43 billion just for 2021.

The actions and innovations highlighted by the Ghana CFR were formulated via a multistakeholder process consulting over 50 institutions. They are part of Ghana’s plan to create conditions for the private sector to help propel sustainable growth and create employment opportunities, and to be independent of aid by 2028, the WEF statement said.

Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, said: “Ghana has long been committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We hope this report will help attract more private capital for sustainable investment opportunities in emerging markets and look forward to continuing to work together.”

Meanwhile, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, said, “in partnership with the World Economic Forum, we have produced the Ghana Country Financing Roadmap (CFR) for the SDGs. It will provide us with a clear indication of the resources required to bridge the SDGs financing gap, and the levels of ambition we need to achieve success in our objectives.”

The report is released in parallel with the WEF special dialogue with President Akufo-Addo where he addressed his country’s strategic priorities post Covid-19, as the country hosts the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat; and seeks to create a prosperous environment in neighbouring countries and the West African sub-Saharan region.