Saudi crown prince says will invest $1 billion to help Africa post-Covid-19

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced on Tuesday that his country would invest $1 billion in Africa this year to help it recover from the global pandemic.

“The Saudi Development Fund will carry out future projects, loans and grants worth three billion riyals, or around $1 billion, in developing countries in Africa this year,” the prince announced during his televised-speech at the Africa Summit on post-Covid-19 economic recovery in Paris.

He added that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would invest an extra $4 billion in vital sectors, vowing that the Kingdom would continue to play an important role in the development of Africa and support global efforts to do so.

About 30 African heads of state and international financial leaders attended Tuesday’s summit in the French capital to look into ways to fill a financing shortfall of almost $300 billion caused by Covid-19.

We have taken the first step in what we have agreed to call a New Deal with Africa. The context is exceptional: at stake is not only the end of the crisis, but also our ability to reinvent our growth model.pic.twitter.com/7rZN1yzorc

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 18, 2021

The summit came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron hosted African leaders, diplomats and lenders at another gathering aimed at helping Sudan after years of conflict-riven authoritarian rule.

Monday’s summit discussed investment in Sudan and negotiated its debt in order to help the government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in the transition after the 2019 ouster of long time strongman Omar Al-Bashir.