S&P Urges Platform Model to Fund African Infrastructure
S&P Global Ratings says pooling smaller projects could attract institutional capital as development aid falls.
Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Corporate Finance
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S&P Global Ratings has advocated a platform-based financing model for African infrastructure, which faces an annual financing shortfall of $60 billion to $100 billion. The proposal comes as official development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa declined 26 percent in 2025.
Why it matters
Many African infrastructure projects fall below the $100 million minimum that most large institutional investors require, limiting access to pension funds, insurers and large asset managers. Pooling individual projects into diversified portfolios is presented as a way to bridge that gap.
Blended finance in Africa has grown to roughly $10 billion a year from $2 billion to $3 billion in 2015, with Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal accounting for 75 to 80 percent of activity. Many instruments still lack investment-grade credit ratings, and the source does not say how quickly pooled structures could close the gap.
The players
S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global Ratings is a credit rating agency and a division of S&P Global, widely known for its sovereign and corporate credit ratings.
The details
The proposed model would combine individual projects into diversified portfolios, increasing transaction size and spreading risk across sectors and geographies. The Lobito Corridor, a 1,300-kilometre railway linking Angola with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, is cited as an example combining public financing, private-sector concessions and structured financing, with financing expected to exceed $10 billion.
Timeline
- 2015: Africa's blended finance market was between $2 billion and $3 billion.
- 2025: Official development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa declined 26 percent.
- February 2026: The Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility launched with a $1.5 billion commitment.
- 2026: Official development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa is projected to contract a further 12 percent.
Market Dynamics
The proposal follows a 26 percent drop in official development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, a decline projected to deepen by a further 12 percent in 2026. As aid contracts, the shift toward private capital through blended finance, which has grown to about $10 billion a year, becomes central to how African infrastructure gets funded.
For institutional investors, pooled African infrastructure platforms could offer diversified exposure that single projects below $100 million cannot provide on their own. For global readers, the shift may influence how development projects are financed and which investment vehicles become available.
The takeaway
Pooling smaller projects into larger portfolios is one approach being explored to attract institutional capital to African infrastructure as traditional aid declines. Whether such platforms can close the gap between project sizes and investor requirements remains to be seen.
Further reading
For more on how project financing is structured, see Corporate Finance.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Businessday NG.
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