Chronic power shortages are one of the biggest obstacles to growth in countries across Africa, with a dearth of electricity or regular blackouts strangling industries.
A recent survey conducted by Mo Ibrahim has found that "Forty percent of African citizens live in a country which has seen a deterioration and over half of Africa's economy has been affected by this issue over the past decade."
Currently, Ghana is still grappling with electricity shortages which is having a monumentally bad effect on people, industries and the country’s economy in general.
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South Africa has shown the largest deterioration of electricity, followed by Sierra Leone, Libya, Botswana and Ghana.
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In 2015, the lowest scoring countries in electricity infrastructure were Guinea, Madagascar, Angola, Burkina Faso and Chad.
Mauritius held onto its top spot, followed by Botswana, Cape Verde, the Seychelles and Namibia.
While overall the index has improved by just one point over the 10 year period starting in 2006, three out of the top 10 countries have seen their score fall in this period, and major economies like South Africa and Ghana registered some of the largest deteriorations on the continent.
Oil producing countries score over ten points below the average score for non-oil producing countries.
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Over the past decade, oil producers have seen an average decline in electricity infrastructure (-3.7). This is in contrast to non-oil producing countries, which have seen a marginal increase.
Fourteen oil producing countries: Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan declined in electricity infrastructure driven by both of the underlying sub-indicators.
