The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has highlighted that Africa holds more than $1.1 trillion in domestic institutional capital, which could be strategically deployed to finance the continent’s transformation. Speaking at the Ninth Africa Business Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ECA Executive Secretary Claver Gatete emphasized that while Africa faces infrastructure-financing gaps and annual losses from illicit financial flows, the challenge is not a shortage of capital but rather the lack of mechanisms to connect available funds to bankable projects. He noted that pension funds, insurance pools, and sovereign assets represent a vast untapped resource for development.
Gatete pointed out that global capital has become increasingly selective, flowing to markets that offer scale, security, and growth potential. He argued that Africa, with its young workforce, rapid urbanization, growing digital adoption, and emerging consumer markets, is well-positioned to become a major engine of global growth. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was highlighted as a milestone in creating a single market of over 1.5 billion people, while digital platforms and startup ecosystems are expanding across the continent. However, he warned that the pace of transformation remains below potential due to infrastructure gaps and weak project preparation frameworks.
Addressing Africa’s youth employment challenge, Gatete stressed that millions of young Africans enter the labor market each year, and productive employment is critical both for the continent’s development and global economic stability. He said, “If they find productive employment, Africa becomes the growth frontier of the century. If they do not, instability becomes globalized.” To accelerate transformation, he proposed four strategic measures: scaling domestic capital and deploying innovative financing instruments, strengthening credit ratings and capital markets, fully implementing the AfCFTA, and investing in innovation, skills, and data systems.
Gatete further emphasized that improved tax systems, blended finance, pension funds, and sovereign assets could expand fiscal space and support infrastructure and industrial development. Stronger credit ratings, enhanced financial transparency, and deeper capital markets were seen as essential to lowering borrowing costs and channeling investment into productive sectors. Full implementation of the AfCFTA would enable regional value chains, large-scale production, and job creation, while expanded STEM education, research, development, and entrepreneurial ecosystems would equip African youth for the industries of the future.
Concluding his address, Gatete warned that the opportunity cost of not investing in Africa could soon exceed the perceived risks of investment. He reaffirmed the ECA’s commitment to working with partners to translate commitments into measurable outcomes, ensuring that jobs are created, enterprises scaled, and value chains financed across the continent.
