The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) argued Monday that African economies must increase investment efforts in productive transformation, which will fuel economic recovery and generate more quality jobs.
The working paper, released on the eve of the Paris summit on financing African economies, argues that “one of the main factors hindering productive transformation and private sector development has been the infrastructure investment deficit, between $130 billion and $170 billion per year.”
The organization points out that because of this, “the resulting poor logistics reduces firm-level productivity by up to 40%, below global competitors and stifling their ability to generate quality jobs.”
In the working paper, the OECD writes that “infrastructure projects deliver significant development gains, provided the right policies, such as ensuring basic social services, are in place.”
The three actions that the OECD argues governments in the region should implement deepen governments’ engagement with their peers and the private sector to identify policies that improve public finances, strengthen institutions to attract private investment, and finally, create an African infrastructure ecosystem that ensures bank approval for quality projects.
