UN Says Africa Should Borrow and Boost Revenue to Capture AI Opportunity
African countries should increase borrowing, boost domestic revenue, and tap pension and sovereign wealth funds to finance the infrastructure needed to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said in a report.
The Ethiopia-based commission warned that the continent risks missing out on AI-driven economic transformation due to critical infrastructure gaps, according to Reuters. Africa currently hosts less than 1% of the world’s data centres, a shortfall that the report describes as both an economic and a sovereignty challenge.
In Africa, AI is expected to boost the continent’s economy by an estimated $2.9 to $4.8 billion by 2030, according to a report by McKinsey.
The UNECA report stressed that public funding alone would not be sufficient. Governments were urged to strengthen tax collection and mobilise capital from financial markets, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and blended finance structures to close the investment gap.
Beyond financing, the commission called for greater focus on skills development and the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to support a broader technology-driven growth strategy.
According to the report, AI adoption, alongside digital platforms and automated production systems, could help African economies diversify away from raw commodity exports toward higher-value manufacturing and services.
“Competitiveness today increasingly depends on a country’s ability to generate, manage, and apply data and frontier technologies,” UNECA said.
The report also highlighted the opportunity for African countries to leverage their vast reserves of critical minerals to produce batteries, processors, and other advanced products locally, rather than exporting raw materials.
