Online Reporter
Chronicle Reporter
THE World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, housed at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), has pledged to more than double its annual issuance of guarantees in Africa to $6.4 billion by 2030, aiming to improve the lives of around 190 million people over the next four years alone.
This comes as Africa’s working-age population is projected to grow by 740 million over the next three decades, with up to 12 million young people entering the labour force annually.
The guarantees will play a critical role in attracting private capital into job-rich sectors including agribusiness, energy and infrastructure, health care, digital, finance, and trade, creating jobs and supporting Africa’s ambitions to become a global engine of growth.
According to the World Bank latest update, the new guarantees issued over the next four years are expected to mobilize US$23 billion in private capital for Africa via a multitude of impactful initiatives on the continent. These include AgriConnect, a World Bank Group initiative to transform smallholder farming, create jobs, and strengthen global food security.
They also include Mission 300, an initiative by the World Bank Group and African Development Bank, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, and Sustainable Energy for All to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030—while helping create more jobs.
By 2030, said the World Bank, these guarantees could help roughly 190 million people, including: providing 43 million people with access to electricity, improving financial inclusion for 50 million people and businesses, particularly those owned by women, strengthening food and nutrition security for 5 million people and reaching around 51 million people using digitally enabled services, among others.
Tsutomu Yamamoto, managing director of MIGA, said: “Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing workforce, and guarantees will play a critical role in attracting the investment to create the jobs needed to secure their future.
“We’re delighted to announce these ambitious new commitments, which will ultimately help to build robust and stable economies that yield quality jobs in everything from agribusiness and health care to energy and infrastructure”.
The World Bank Group Guarantee Platform was initiated in 2024, and consolidates guarantee products and experts from across the World Bank Group at MIGA. It provides a simplified and comprehensive menu of guarantee solutions, enabling clients to select the instrument that best suits their needs. The platform streamlines processes, removes redundancies, and provides greater accessibility by de-risking investments in developing countries. Its goal is to boost the World Bank Group’s annual guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030.
