AFC: How Coup Contagion Threatens New Investment in Africa

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has said that the growing number of military takeovers in African states was raising concerns about stability and jeopardising investment inflows into the continent.

The Lagos-based development finance institution has suspended a project in one state that it has invested in, and may delay the planned listing of its African projects because of the retrenchment of democratic rule, Chief Executive Officer Samaila Zubairu said in an emailed response to Bloomberg.

The AFC says it has an investment portfolio of about $11.5 billion in Africa.

The rise of the juntas in Africa is “very worrying, especially with seeming appeal of the changes to the mass populace,” Zubairu said.

There have been nine coups in sub-Saharan Africa in the past three years, creating a belt of countries that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Gabon joined the list recently, when soldiers removed President Ali Bongo from power after a disputed election.

AFC announced plans last year to sell shares in its projects on stock exchanges in London and the United Arab Emirates to raise capital and fund infrastructure development across Africa.

 Its investment portfolio includes stakes in port facilities in Gabon, Mauritania and Ghana, and power plants in Ivory Coast and Djibouti.