Africa's electricity crisis curbs economic growth
When the lights go out, everything comes to a standstill. Without power, not even a small business can run effectively. This is a major hurdle for sub-Saharan Africa, where less than one in three people are connected to an electricity grid. "With [electrical] power comes progress," Mamadou Biteye, managing director of the Rockefeller Foundation in Africa, told delegates at the Africa Utility Week conference, held in Cape Town, South Africa, this week. "Access to electricity can make the difference between poverty and prosperity. It's key to promoting economic development," Biteye stressed. Only 290 million out of the region's 915 million people have electricity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook, warning that the ailing power supply hinders the whole continent. To change this, significant investment is required. A whopping $450 billion is needed in sub-Saharan Africa to halve the amount of power outages, a report by international consulting firm KPMG found. Currently, sub-Saharan Africa's 49 countries generate only about the same amount of power as Spain with a population of 45 million, according to the report, even though the region is rich in energy resources.
"Africa produces 11 percent of the world's oil, 6 percent of natural gas and 4 percent of coal. But much of the energy is exported rather than used to fuel Africa," Martin Ganda, a Zimbabwean investor based in the United States, told 5,000 conference delegates from across the continent. Nigeria is a prime example. The West African nation is Africa's biggest economy and the world's sixth largest oil producer. But few of the 2.5 million barrels of oil it produces daily stay in the country. As a result, about two thirds of Nigeria's estimated 178 million people live without grid electricity. The negative impact of Africa's electricity crisis is perhaps felt most severely in the region's most industrialized nation, South Africa. A badly maintained, ageing power infrastructure is causing serious undersupply. Industry has been reporting huge losses due to regular, planned power cuts.
"Africa produces 11 percent of the world's oil, 6 percent of natural gas and 4 percent of coal. But much of the energy is exported rather than used to fuel Africa," Martin Ganda, a Zimbabwean investor based in the United States, told 5,000 conference delegates from across the continent. Nigeria is a prime example. The West African nation is Africa's biggest economy and the world's sixth largest oil producer. But few of the 2.5 million barrels of oil it produces daily stay in the country. As a result, about two thirds of Nigeria's estimated 178 million people live without grid electricity. The negative impact of Africa's electricity crisis is perhaps felt most severely in the region's most industrialized nation, South Africa. A badly maintained, ageing power infrastructure is causing serious undersupply. Industry has been reporting huge losses due to regular, planned power cuts.
Last Update: May 14, 2015 23:46