UK to Invest £8 Billion in Africa to Enhance Job Creation

• UK to Invest £8 Billion in Africa to Enhance Job Creation

The United Kingdom has promised to invest £8 billion in Africa to better enhance job creation and strengthen economic growth across the continent.

The Development Finance Institution, CDC Group UK, plans to support hundreds of thousands of jobs by investing about £3.5 billion in Africa.

Another £4 billion of private investment will be mobilised from London to deepen growth and boost much-needed investment in businesses and infrastructure, Prime Minister Theresa May stated in Cape Town.

“This includes for the first time ever setting a clear ambition of mobilising an additional £4 billion of private sector investment into the continent by working more closely with the City of London.”

According to the Prime Minister, Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050, meaning about 18 million jobs will be needed every year.

There is a chronic need for private and public investment to create better opportunities in Africa to prevent the next generation falling further into poverty, potentially fuelling instability and mass migration with direct consequences for Britain.

But this growth also means that the scale of the opportunity across Africa is huge: according to the IMF, Africa’s GDP is set to reach $3.2 trillion in the next five years.

Home to the City of London, the world’s leading financial centre, the UK is well-positioned to become Africa’s future investment partner of choice.