Africa must invest in itself
11 June, 2025
Mo Ibrahim, chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, has written an op-ed for the Financial Times calling for a shift in Africa’s development approach.
Declining aid is a wake-up call that the continent should make domestic investment the driver of development
In the UK, US and Europe, development spending is being cut to the bone.
For many, 2025 has been the final nail in the coffin for the aid agenda. Over the past decade development budgets have been strangled by a combination of rising isolationism, international conflict and a weakened global economy.
Foreign aid has been important for African countries and these cuts will have a devastating effect on healthcare systems, placing many lives at risk. But it is not the end of the world for the continent.
Indeed, Africans should not mourn the end of international aid while hoping that international generosity might one day return. Now is the time to look inside our own borders and make African-led investment the cornerstone of African development.
Foreign aid provision to the continent has been in steady decline for well over a decade and already represents a very small percentage of African countries’ income. USAID cuts amount to less than 1 per cent of gross national income for 42 African countries.
The current acceleration of cuts should instead be seen as a wake-up call: we must look for solutions within the continent’s borders. When the “Africa 2063” initiative was set out by the African Union over a decade ago it was not a 50-year vision of an Africa dependent on aid, but one of a global powerhouse charting its own path. The responsibility for delivering this vision is ours.
Read the full article on the Financial Times website:
