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World Bank to provide electricity for 100 million Africans by 2030

Adekunle Agbetiloye

The World Bank has announced plans to allocate $5 billion to provide electricity to 100 million people in Africa by the end of the decade. Access to electricity remains a pressing issue in several African nations, posing significant challenges to their development.

Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank,
Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank,
  • The World Bank has announced plans to allocate $5 billion to provide electricity to 100 million people in Africa.
  • This was revealed at the mid-term review of the International Development Association (IDA)'s $93 billion replenishment package.
  • Over 600 million people in Africa – 36 million of whom live here in Tanzania – still don’t have access to reliable electricity.

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The disclosure came from Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank, during his speech at the mid-term review of the International Development Association (IDA)'s $93 billion replenishment package.

Banga highlighted that ambition as an example of how he plans to wield funds from the bank’s International Development Association, which provides zero- or low-interest loans to low-income countries, and why donor countries need to provide support, Bloomberg reported.

In his remarks, he noted that some 1.1 billion young people in the Global South are expected to reach working age over the next decade.

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“But how can we hope to make even adequate progress while 600 million people in Africa – 36 million of whom live here in Tanzania – still don’t have access to reliable electricity? Put simply: We can’t.”

Banga addressed the bank's ongoing review of its latest replenishment round for the IDA, amounting to $93 billion. He expressed his desire for donors to set another record in the upcoming round scheduled for December 2024.

“We are pushing the limits of this important concessional resource and no amount of creative financial engineering will compensate for the fact that we need more funding,” he said.

Banga, the former chief executive of Mastercard Inc., landed in Zanzibar after participating in the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

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Reflecting on the experience in an interview on Sunday in Dubai, he remarked, "There is a lot of energy. There seems to be political alignment. I'm going to take all the tailwind I can get."

Across the continent, a substantial portion of the population grapples with the absence of reliable electricity. The lack of electricity accessibility in many regions can be attributed to various factors, including the high cost of electricity and infrastructure deficit.

Adekunle Agbetiloye Adekunle Agbetiloye Adekunle is a Senior Reporter at Business Insider Africa with interest in the African economy, technology, energy transition, and climate change. He is passionate about telling the story of an evolving Africa.

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