African Heads of State and Government have formally launched the Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFF), a coordinated, Africa-led platform designed to accelerate the preparation and facilitation of financing for priority cross-border infrastructure projects aligned with Agenda 2063.
The launch took place during the Third Presidential High-Level Dialogue of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), convened on the margins of the 39th African Union Summit under the theme: “Strengthening Africa’s Financial Architecture to Finance Agenda 2063.”
Held under the patronage of H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana and African Union Champion on AU Financial Institutions, the dialogue reinforced Africa’s commitment to translating financial sovereignty into operational mechanisms capable of mobilizing long-term capital at scale.
Agenda 2063 continues to face financing constraints driven by fragmented capital markets, elevated cost-of-capital premiums, limited long-term funding, and persistent reliance on external financial systems that do not fully reflect Africa’s development realities. Against this backdrop, African leaders emphasized the need to strengthen existing African multilateral financial institutions (AMFIs) while accelerating the operationalization of African Union financial institutions.
“Africa has domestic capital pools exceeding $2.5 trillion,” President Mahama stated. “The challenge is not the availability of capital, but how intentionally we deploy it into infrastructure, industrialization, and job creation to realize Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
He underscored the importance of reducing dependency on fragmented financing systems that mis-price Africa’s risk and called for a coherent continental financial architecture capable of financing Africa’s development sustainably.
Representing the African Union Commission, H.E. Mrs. Francisca Tatchouop Belobe, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, reaffirmed the AU’s commitment to strengthening continental financial coordination:
“The launch of the AIFF is a powerful demonstration of what can be achieved when political will and institutional coordination converge. We are confident that this facility will contribute meaningfully to closing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap, estimated at approximately US$221 billion annually over the period 2023 to 2030.”
“The Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions represents over $70 billion in balance sheets, working together to close Africa’s trade, investment, and development financing gaps,” added Samaila Zubairu, president and CEO of Africa Finance Corporation and outgoing chairman of AAMFI. “Our collective action is central to mobilizing the resources needed to deliver transformative infrastructure and regional integration.”
He emphasized that Africa’s development ambitions require scale, institutional alignment, and disciplined capital mobilization to close infrastructure and industrial financing gaps.
“The Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility has been designed to address the most persistent constraint to infrastructure delivery in Africa: the gap between political approval and financial execution,” said Dr. George Elombi, president and chairman of the Afreximbank’s board of directors. “Too many projects stall not because they lack relevance, but because they are insufficiently prepared, inadequately structured, or misaligned with the requirements of long-term capital. African multilateral financial institutions understand African risk, African markets, and African development realities. By pooling expertise, balance sheets, and risk frameworks, the Facility moves Africa from fragmented interventions to a coherent system capable of mobilizing capital at scale.”
The dialogue underscored that while political commitment to infrastructure remains strong, projects often face constraints at early preparation stages. Limited project preparation funding, fragmented regional policies, and insufficient coordination were cited as key challenges.
A central highlight was the formal launch of the Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFF).
Established under a cooperation framework agreement between AUDA-NEPAD and AAMFI, the AIFF provides a structured, Africa-led coordination mechanism to accelerate project preparation and facilitate indicative, non-binding engagement on financing for priority infrastructure aligned with Agenda 2063.