The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private-sector lending arm, will invest up to $3.5 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa this year, claimed a report by Reuters on Wednesday, as the organisation prepares to spend more cash in building up the region’s infrastructure sector.
In 2011, the total investments in renewable energy in Africa rose from $750 million in 2004 to $3.6 billion. By 2020, this sum is expected to grow to $57 billion – a staggering 1,583 percent increase in nine short years. Will Africa be able to do what it takes to ensure its energy future?
First, the bad news. Although Africa has vast fossil and renewable energy sources, only twenty percent of its population has direct access to electricity and in some rural areas, four out of five people are completely without power.
With the economic crisis still at hand, the government continues to oversee operations of major corporations. Ironically, in the 1950’s, corporate taxes accounted for 30 percent of all federal revenue. Now, just 6.6 percent? Uhh.. wow.
Here’s a fun, fact filled infographic that illustrates just how these corporations are getting out of paying taxes:
Strong prospects await global companies that invest in Africa’s consumer, agricultural, natural-resource, and infrastructure sectors.
Africa’s economic growth is creating substantial new business opportunities that multinational companies often overlook.
At least four categories together could be worth $2.6 trillion in annual revenues by 2020:
The World Bank has classified the economies of the world on the basis of income and region for the year 2006. This is a classification of all the member countries of the World Bank and other economies with populations more than 30,000. The groups made are as follows:
The African continent is characterised by numerous institutional and infrastructural weaknesses that has hindered strong economic growth in the past. Nevertheless, the region contains a great deal of promise with many of its countries forecasted to be among the fastest growing economies in the world.
