$93 Billion needed for Infrastrucure in Africa

World Bank recently released a report that stated the $93 billion is needed Infrastructure in Africa.

The World Bank said yesterday that the amount needed to fix infrastructure in Africa is twice what was previously estimated. It put the new figure at $93 billion half of which, it noted, should go into boosting power supply.

A joint study just released by the bank from Washington cited examples of infrastructural challenges in the continent. African consumers pay twice as much for basic services as people elsewhere in the world.

A monthly basket of prepaid mobile telephone services costs $12 in Africa but only $2 in South Asia.

Resource-rich countries like Nigeria and Zambia can manage funding gap of four percent of GDP. For much of the rest of the continent, the task ahead is daunting.

The poor state of infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa cuts back national economic growth by two percentage points every year. Bank study team which assessed the state of infrastructure in 24 countries across the continent also discovered that poor electricity, water, roads and information and communications technology (ICT) reduces productivity by as much as 40 percent.

"Modern infrastructure is the backbone of an economy and the lack of it inhibits economic growth," says Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank.

This would be a good opportunity for American companies in construction, management, chemicals and telecommunications to grow their exports.