Development Saudi Arabia to invest $41bn in Africa over next decade By Andrew Hammond October 28, 2024, 4:45 PM Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the kingdom will continue to increase economic bonds with Africa Finance minister announces funding Further $50bn from regional group Acwa Power has invested $7bn Saudi Arabia is providing at least $41 billion in funding for low-income sub-Saharan countries in Africa, the government announced on Monday. Finance minister Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan revealed a $1 billion development initiative for Africa, $5 billion for startups from the Saudi Development Fund over the next ten years, $10 billion in financing from the Saudi Import Export Bank over the next decade, and private sector investment of $25 billion over the next ten years. A group of regional state-backed funders called the Arab Coordination Group aims to lend $50 billion by 2030, he said. Al-Jadaan was speaking at an investment forum in Riyadh where global finance leaders, tech entrepreneurs and politicians are meeting this week in the shadow of regional conflict between Iran and Israel, and a US election on November 5 that could return former president Donald Trump to power. “We’ll continue to increase the economic bonds between Saudi Arabia and Africa. The most important challenge they face is sovereign debt and that needs international cooperation,” Al-Jadaan said. He cited debt relief offered to Chad, Ghana, Zambia and Ethiopia when Saudi Arabia had the rotating presidency of the G20 economic bloc. PIF’s Manara in talks to buy minority stake in Zambian mines Egypt slashes renewables target to focus on natural gas Wealth funds likely to increase African investments Acwa Power CEO Marco Arcelli said the company – the world’s largest private water desalination company and leader in green hydrogen – had spent $7 billion so far on the African continent. “We are a leading investor in Africa, we have invested more than $7 billion to date, and 100 percent of that is renewables,” Arcelli told a panel, adding that fossil fuels would need to be part of Africa’s growth plan at this stage. “Even to bring all of Africa to the level of say Egypt or Tunisia in terms of consumption implies three and a half times the installed capacity,” he said. “The cheapest, fastest and most secure is renewables. But when the economy is growing at the speed it is in Africa you need a complement, you need gas-fired and potentially other sources.” Arcelli said in September that Acwa – which is 44 percent owned by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund – aims to close the first phase of a scheme to invest $15 billion in Egypt over the next six years, as part of a plan to quadruple its total investment in Africa. Acwa said this week its Redstone Concentrating Solar Power plant in South Africa has reached 50MW and will soon achieve its full 100MW capacity.
