AfDB meeting in India will help boost investments

After China, the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) annual meet is moving to Ahmedabad as India seeks to court countries from the continent where its neighbour has been investing heavily.
PM Narendra Modi had announced a $10 billion line of credit for African countries and they have begun tapping into it. In recent years, China has invested heavily in Africa as it seeks to forge closer ties with countries and meet its requirement for coal and other minerals. India in contrast is banking on trade and diaspora to boost its presence.India’s trade with Africa has gone up over six times to $31 billion over the last decade, while FDI has jumped from $12 billion to around $56.5 billion, making India the fifth largest investor, behind the US, the UK, France and China. With the line of credit over a five year period, the government is hoping to not just help African countries meet their requirements but also open doors for Indian companies to provide equipment and build projects.
AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina toldTOIthat a bulk of the investment is expected to flow into the power sector given the vast gap with nearly 645 million people still without access to electricity. “It is a challenge and AfDB is planning investment of around $12 billion to leverage flows of $45-50 billion.It will help boost growth rates and improve the quality of life for millions,” he said. Adesina said renewable energy was the other area of interest as AfDB was looking at support from India after 47 other countries committed $10 billion to the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative.
Already, nearly a quarter of the flows have been to the power sector with another 5% going to rural electrification, said Exim Bank of India managing director David Rasquinha, who said his institution was looking to co-finance projects in Africa. Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique are at the top of the list when it comes to drawing funds.

Source:TOI