AfDB, WEF unveil new financing roadmap for frontier markets

The African Development Bank Group and the World Economic Forum have launched a new roadmap to mobilise private investment for Africa’s fragile and underserved economies.

The Humanitarian and Resilience Investing Roadmap for Africa was unveiled at the ongoing 2026 Annual Meetings of the AfDB Group in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

The initiative sought to channel commercial and catalytic capital into frontier markets and transition states where investment gaps remain high.

The pilot programmes are already underway in Liberia, Somalia, Mozambique and Djibouti.

Speaking at the inauguration, AfDB president Sidi Ould Tah said Africa must shift from aid dependency to investment-led development.

Mr Tah was represented by the senior vice president of the AfDB Group, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade.

“The time for a paradigm shift from aid dependency to investment-led development is now. The HRI Roadmap creates that foundation by positioning development finance as a catalyst, not a substitute,” he said.

The managing director of the WEF, Sheba Crocker, said Africa’s vulnerable communities needed investments that would support sustainable economic growth.

Mr Crocker said the roadmap reflected efforts to move beyond fragmented interventions toward coordinated investment-led approaches. The partners reiterated that Africa faced an annual development financing gap of about $400 billion.

They also observed that, despite accounting for 17 per cent of the world’s population, Africa attracted only 3.5 per cent of global foreign direct investment.

During a panel discussion, Somalia’s finance minister, Bihi Egeh, said fragile African economies required stronger financial inclusion and de-risking mechanisms.

Other speakers stressed the importance of regulatory reforms, digital infrastructure and concessional financing in attracting private capital to frontier markets.

The roadmap aligns with the African Development Bank’s New African Financial Architecture for Development and its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative.

The AfDB 2026 Annual Meetings, which started on May 25, will end on 29. NAN