Non-European Financial Flows

The global sources of financing for African energy projects have changed markedly in the last couple of decades, reflecting the emergence of new actors beyond the traditional OECD players. This trend has clearly diversified the sources of funding, equipment and know-how coming into Africa.

Multilaterals and other funds have played a significant role in financing Africa’s energy sector, where it was found that some EUR 15 billion has been committed by various non-EU, non-African Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and their funds to SDG7 in Africa during 2014-2020. Identified commitments have risen from EUR 1.2 billion in 2014 to EUR 3.4 billion in 2018, although fell back to EUR 1.8 billion in 2020. This is broadly in line with the wider increases in funding directed at the continent and reflects the fact that these multilaterals have generally accounted for around 43% of global ODA funding to SDG7.

The United States has increased its focus on Africa over the past decade; the Obama administration’s Power Africa initiative was launched in 2013 and the Prosper Africa initiative in 2019. While identified financial flows from the US may not match its status as the world’s largest economy, total ODA increased from EUR 9.2 million in 2014 to EUR 66.1 million in 2020. However, 2017 and 2019 saw significant financing of EUR 330.5 million and EUR 239.8 million respectively.

Other notable sources of identified funding are the Middle East and Asia, which account for 8% and 3% of all ODA funding to SDG7 projects since 2014, respectively. However, the overwhelming majority of this appears to have been extended in the forms of loans.