Tuesday 18th November 2025
by inAfrika Newsroom
Africa’s main development lender has approved a new $100 million loan to the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund, aiming to unlock more private capital for energy, transport and digital projects. The African Development Bank (AfDB) says the facility will support green and high-impact infrastructure at a time when government budgets remain tight and commercial finance often falls short.
The Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund, managed by Ninety One and housed within the Private Infrastructure Development Group, lends long-term debt to projects that local banks often find too risky or too large. The new AfDB loan is the fund’s fourth major facility from the bank. It forms part of EAAIF’s broader plan to raise roughly $300 million of long-term capital and deploy more than $850 million in new investments over the next few years.
AfDB officials say the structure of the loan aims to de-risk projects in sectors such as renewable power, climate-resilient transport, and backbone fibre networks. The fund can take longer tenors and more complex risk than most domestic lenders. That flexibility helps developers reach financial close on projects that support jobs and productivity but struggle to attract traditional funding.
Africa’s infrastructure needs range between $130 billion and $170 billion each year. Current investment still falls far below that level. The gap shows up in unreliable power, congested ports, weak logistics and costly internet. These weaknesses raise business costs and slow job creation, especially for young people entering the labour market.
The AfDB and other multilaterals now face pressure to use their balance sheets to mobilise far larger sums from pension funds, insurers and other institutional investors. By anchoring a blended fund such as EAAIF, the bank hopes to create a track record that reassures private capital. Over time, this could also support more local-currency financing and reduce exposure to sharp currency swings.
For households and firms, the impact will come if new lines, plants and networks actually reach completion. Better power supply can lower the cost of running factories and cold storage. Improved transport corridors cut delivery times for farmers and exporters. Stronger digital infrastructure supports payment systems and online services that link small businesses to regional and global markets.
The fund will now work with host governments and private sponsors to finalise a pipeline of eligible projects. AfDB teams plan to monitor environmental and social safeguards closely and to ensure strong procurement and governance standards.
Analysts say the new facility will only move the needle if governments also stabilise regulation, clear payment arrears, and honour power-purchase and concession contracts. Investors watch those signals closely.
If the partnership holds, the AfDB–EAAIF model could become a template for scaling private investment into Africa’s next wave of green and digital infrastructure, with development banks acting as early risk-takers rather than sole financiers.
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