At last month’s Africa-Caribbean Infrastructure Forum, held on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC, African Development Bank Group Executive Director Rufus N. Darkortey issued a powerful call for African and Caribbean nations to rethink traditional approaches to development and embrace bold, locally-driven strategies.
In his keynote address on 25 April at the Ronald Reagan Building, Darkortey urged delegates to commit to a “new development compact” that prioritises domestic resource mobilisation and private sector growth as catalysts for transitioning from low- to middle-income status. Representing a Bank constituency that includes Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Sudan, he warned that unless current development models are reformed, many nations risk remaining in low-income brackets for the next century.
“Unless we change the current development financing model, Africa and the Caribbean could remain trapped in low-income status for another 100 years,” Darkortey said. “But with smart, courageous reforms and a renewed focus on homegrown solutions, we can accelerate that transformation in just 30 to 50 years, just as the Asian Tigers did.”
The forum, co-hosted by SmartDev and the Africa Canada Trade and Investment Venture (ACTIV), brought together senior policymakers, finance leaders, and private sector representatives, including Haiti’s Minister of Finance, Alfred Fils Metellus, to forge a new direction for infrastructure investment and inclusive economic growth.
Darkortey emphasised that sustainable development must be rooted in strong domestic economies. He pointed to the importance of expanding fiscal space, modernising public financial management systems, and nurturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form over 90 percent of businesses across Africa.
He argued that strengthening domestic revenue collection and supporting local entrepreneurship can unlock homegrown capital to invest in essential sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure. This approach, he suggested, would also support long-term debt sustainability and empower vulnerable communities, including women and youth.
Darkortey illustrated the development disparities with sobering figures. While Africa has added 1.9 million kilometres of roads since 1995, just 30 percent of its roads are paved—far behind East Asia’s 92 percent. Electricity access also lags behind, reaching only 58 percent of Africa’s population and 82 percent in the Caribbean.
He noted that investment patterns further reflect the challenge. African countries allocate around 3.1 percent of GDP to infrastructure, with just 12 percent coming from private sources. The Caribbean fares slightly worse, investing 2.5 percent of GDP with a mere five percent private sector contribution. In contrast, Asian nations invest up to eight percent of GDP in infrastructure, with the private sector providing 42 percent.
Darkortey identified three major hurdles: underdeveloped domestic private sectors, foreign control of strategic industries, and weak revenue systems. To address these, he proposed adopting proven models such as output-based aid, blended finance mechanisms, build-operate-transfer schemes, special economic zones with targeted incentives, and sovereign-backed financing for SMEs.
“These are not borrowed blueprints; they are tools already working across the globe,” he said.
Citing success stories, Darkortey pointed to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and the Dominican Republic as examples of countries that have transformed their economies through strategic domestic investment and industrial development. He referenced Vietnam’s $370 billion in exports, Bangladesh’s $42 billion garment sector and dramatic poverty reduction, Ethiopia’s six-fold export growth and expanded road coverage, and the Dominican Republic’s leap from a $1,500 to over $11,000 GDP per capita.
“Let this century be remembered not for aid dependency,” he concluded, “but for domestic capital mobilisation, SME-driven innovation, and sovereign economic and infrastructure development.”
Darkortey also spotlighted key African Development Bank projects, such as the Desert to Power initiative, which aims to provide renewable electricity to 250 million people in the Sahel, and support for Ethiopia’s progress in becoming a net wheat exporter. These projects, he said, exemplify the kind of transformation possible through innovative financing and long-term investment in sustainable growth.
The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring notable figures including Caribbean Development Bank Vice President Dr. Isaac Solomon, Zambia’s Ambassador to the United States Dr. Chibamba Kanyama, and representatives from the Gates Foundation and the World Bank Group. Moderated by Dr. Carline Noailles of JESCA Solutions, the session explored how to unlock private investment and scale effective public-private partnerships.
Together, the forum’s discussions painted a forward-looking vision of development—one where homegrown policy and private enterprise align to create resilient, inclusive economies across Africa and the Caribbean.