President William Ruto addresses the Africa Forward Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi /PCSPresident William Ruto has urged African countries to take greater responsibility in financing their own development projects.
Addressing the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Ruto said the continent can no longer rely heavily on external lenders and institutions to meet its growing infrastructure and economic needs.
Ruto said Africa possesses vast financial resources that remain underutilised even as governments struggle to fund critical projects.
“Africa must increasingly finance Africa,” Ruto said during his address to heads of state, investors, policymakers and business leaders attending the summit.
“Across our continent, enormous pools of domestic capital remain underutilised. Africa today holds more than $4 trillion in long-term domestic savings, including over $1 trillion in pension and insurance assets and more than five hundred billion dollars in central bank reserves,” he added.
The President noted that despite the existence of huge financial resources within African economies, many countries continue to face difficulties financing key development programmes such as roads, transport corridors, industrial parks, logistics hubs, energy projects and affordable housing.
“Yet paradoxically, while this capital exists within African economies, governments across our continent continue to struggle to finance critical infrastructure, transport corridors, energy systems, industrial parks, logistics networks, and affordable housing,” Ruto said.
He said African countries must move away from over-dependence on global financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“At the same time, we must recognise that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund alone cannot finance Africa’s development ambitions,” he said.
According to Ruto, the challenge facing Africa is not the lack of capital but rather the structures needed to channel available resources into development projects.
“There is capital in Africa, but Africa’s development projects remain starved of financing. The issue, therefore, is not liquidity. It is risk architecture,” he said.
The President said African nations are now laying the foundation for a stronger and more resilient financial system that can support the continent’s long-term development agenda.
He reaffirmed Kenya’s support for the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions, describing it as a strategic platform for mobilising capital, sharing risk and coordinating project execution across the continent.
“This is because Africa does not need more fragmented institutions. Africa needs coordinated financial firepower capable of financing infrastructure, industrialisation, trade corridors, and energy transformation on African terms,” Ruto stated.
He cited institutions such as the African Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank, Africa Finance Corporation, Trade and Development Bank and Shelter Afrique Development Bank as key pillars in strengthening Africa’s ability to finance trade, industrialisation and economic transformation.
“These institutions are more than financial intermediaries. They are instruments of African agency, strategic sovereignty, and collective self-determination,” he said.
Ruto also backed the recapitalisation of the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance, saying it is critical to strengthening what he termed as the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD).
