U.S. businesses to invest $14 billion in Africa

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Washington Examiner:

President Obama plans to announce a $14 billion commitment from U.S. business to invest in Africa in areas ranging from construction and energy to banking and information technology.

 

Obama’s announcement will come Tuesday afternoon during a business forum at the U.S.-Africa summit aimed at strengthening trade and financial ties.

 

Hosted by the Commerce Department and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the forum will bring together CEOs and government leaders, including Obama, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton.

 

Africa is home to eight of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies between 2000 and 2013. The continent’s GDP of more than $2 trillion in 2013 is now larger than India’s, according to a new McKinsey & Co. report.

 

By its own admission, the U.S. is playing catch-up in the race to invest in Africa, as China and other countries have swooped in over the last few years to cultivate some of the newly stabilized and still-underdeveloped areas of the continent.