WB to raise Africa infrastructure spending

CAPE TOWN – The World Bank will raise African infrastructure funding over the next few years to help spur investment in the world’s poorest continent, an official said yesterday.

Infrastructure director Michel Wormser told reporters that the World Bank was working closely with other donors to set a programme for higher investment in Africa ahead of next month’s G8 meeting of major industrialised countries. “We expect that by the time of the G8 not only will there be a call for a lot more funding for Africa but also that the share of that funding going to infrastructure will increase,” Wormser said on the sidelines of an investment conference in Cape Town.African leaders hope that the G8 will back the Commission for Africa, an ambitious British-led plan to revitalise the continent.The Commission has proposed that rich nations open their doors to African trade, write off massive debts and free an extra US$25 billion (N$170 billion) a year in aid.The World Bank has budgeted for a sharp rise in allocations to the continent.”In 2000 we were lending about US$600 million dollars for the African continent’s infrastructure, this year we are going to lend US$1,8 billion,” Wormser said.Spending would rise by a further 30 per cent to about US$2,6 billion over the next two years, compared to only about US$3 billion from all other donors combined, he said.The World Bank’s new head, Paul Wolfowitz, has indicated the bank will focus attention on Africa’s poor as the continent falls behind the goal of halving dire poverty by 2015.Wormser said the World Bank’s programme was aligned with the Commission for Africa proposals and he urged donors and the private sector to pump more money into infrastructure.”We think that infrastructure is critical for growth and there has to be about US$20 billion in Africa to meet the millennium development goals,” he said.Private sector investment on the continent had been disappointing, with an average of only about US$2 billion a year directed towards infrastructure projects in Africa over the past decade, Wormser said.-Nampa-Reuters”We expect that by the time of the G8 not only will there be a call for a lot more funding for Africa but also that the share of that funding going to infrastructure will increase,” Wormser said on the sidelines of an investment conference in Cape Town.African leaders hope that the G8 will back the Commission for Africa, an ambitious British-led plan to revitalise the continent.The Commission has proposed that rich nations open their doors to African trade, write off massive debts and free an extra US$25 billion (N$170 billion) a year in aid.The World Bank has budgeted for a sharp rise in allocations to the continent.”In 2000 we were lending about US$600 million dollars for the African continent’s infrastructure, this year we are going to lend US$1,8 billion,” Wormser said.Spending would rise by a further 30 per cent to about US$2,6 billion over the next two years, compared to only about US$3 billion from all other donors combined, he said.The World Bank’s new head, Paul Wolfowitz, has indicated the bank will focus attention on Africa’s poor as the continent falls behind the goal of halving dire poverty by 2015.Wormser said the World Bank’s programme was aligned with the Commission for Africa proposals and he urged donors and the private sector to pump more money into infrastructure.”We think that infrastructure is critical for growth and there has to be about US$20 billion in Africa to meet the millennium development goals,” he said.Private sector investment on the continent had been disappointing, with an average of only about US$2 billion a year directed towards infrastructure projects in Africa over the past decade, Wormser said.-Nampa-Reuters