ABUJA, Nigeria — Sub-Saharan Africa could face cuts of up to 28 percent in official development assistance in the coming years, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) warned in its “State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report 2026” released on Friday, April 24, 2026.
Okay News reports that the AFC said official development assistance, historically a major source of concessional financing, fell from its peak of $83.8 billion in 2020 to $73.5 billion in 2023, and is projected to decline by up to 20 percent from 2025, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing the steepest reductions.
“ODA, historically a major source of concessional financing, fell from its peak of US$83.8 billion in 2020 to US$73.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to fall by up to 20% from 2025, with sub-Saharan Africa likely to witness cuts of up to 28%,” the report stated.
The AFC noted that elevated global interest rates, persistent inflation, and geopolitical shocks have raised borrowing costs and intermittently closed market access for African sovereigns. Bond issuances by African governments fell sharply from more than $29 billion in 2018 to between $4 billion and $6 billion annually from 2022 to 2023.
Foreign direct investment flows have remained between $45 billion and $55 billion annually, but are heavily skewed toward North Africa and a small number of sub-Saharan economies. Chinese lending, once a significant source of infrastructure finance, has also declined.
The AFC said the slowdown in external funding has widened the gap between financing needs and available capital. The institution called for a rethink of how Africa mobilises and deploys capital for development, pointing to the region’s institutional capital pool which grew by 25 percent to more than $2 trillion in 2025, yet remains underutilised for infrastructure projects.
