The flagship economic report Africa’s Development Dynamics 2025: Infrastructure, Growth and Transformation (AfDD 2025) was jointly prepared by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the OECD Development Centre. It is published under the aegis of H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, AUC Chairperson, and H.E. Mathias Cormann, OECD Secretary-General. It was guided by H.E. Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals of the African Union, and by Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, Director of the OECD Development Centre. The report was supervised by Djamel Ghrib, Director, Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, and by Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Acting Director, Economic Development, Integration and Trade and Head of Division for Economic Policy and Sustainable Development, Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, along with Federico Bonaglia, Deputy Director of the OECD Development Centre, and Arthur Minsat, Head of the OECD Development Centre’s Africa Unit and Senior Economist.
The drafting team of the AUC consisted of Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Head of the Economic Policy and Sustainable Development Division, Rumbidzai Treddah Manhando, Economist, Luckystar Miyandazi, Tax and Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Adviser, and Ronnel Inonge Sisamu, Legal Advisor (Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals). The team at the OECD Development Centre, led by Arthur Minsat, Head of the Africa Unit, with Nicolas Friederici, included Keiko Álvarez, Andrea Cinque, David Dadakpete, Seynabou Diop, Majda Eddaifi, Marie-Adjara Koné, Noémie Maring, Sébastien Markley, Francesco Napolitano, Ismail Qotbi, Elisa Saint Martin, Eva-Andrée Tiomo, and Bakary Traoré, with support from José Pineda (Senior Advisor, DevTech Systems). Anne-Marie Trang (OECD) and Mandy Mauyakufa (AUC) gave valuable support to the research, production, logistics and administrative work on the report.
Inputs and data were provided by AUDA-NEPAD, the World Bank’s Infrastructure Finance, PPPs and Guarantees unit, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). Aly El Domery (Agence Française de développement [AFD]), Mohammed Fangary (AFD), Mohamed Momatz Hegazy (Transport for Cairo [TfC]), Alain Mibulumukini, (Regulatory Authority for Outsourcing in the Private Sector [ARSP], DRC), and Salima Raoundi (Proparco – AFD]) shared their valuable expertise in interviews. A collaboration with the Africa Infrastructure Development Association (AfIDA), which included the joint organisation of an expert online workshop, the administration of an online survey and a substantive contribution, is gratefully acknowledged. Yassin Bendjebbour (GIZ), Richard Carey (African Center for Economic Transformation [ACET]), Sulaiman Cisse (Africa Finance Corporation [AFC]), Hubert Danso (Africa Investor (Ai) Group), Noble Ekajeh (Phoenix Edison), Vivek Mittal (AfIDA) and Freda Yawson (ACET) enriched the workshop with their active participation. Substantive contribution from by GIZ Build4Skills is gratefully acknowledged.
The continental chapters benefited from comments and inputs from the following experts: Richard Carey (ACET); Simon Alkali, Sulaiman Cisse (AFC); Anton Cartwright (African Centre for Cities); Vivek Mittal (AfIDA); Yeo Dossina (Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa [BADEA]); Timo Behrens, Frederik Gaul, Benjamin Laag, Marlis Sieburger, Stephan Worack (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung [BMZ]); Abdelghni Lakhdar (Casablanca Finance City); Hiro Ito (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD]); Jesús Manuel Gavilán Marín, Georgios Grapsas, Lars Gronvald, Claire Hunault, Camilla Kuckartz, Lina Liink, Peter Mariën, Marco Parolin, Riccardo Roba, Domenico Rosa, Jessica Schroeder, Mona Stein (European Commission); Damir Kurtagic, Simona Montanari (Delegation of the European Union to the African Union); Arnold Jacques de Dixmud (Delegation of the European Union to Burundi); Anders Djurfeldt, Agnès Duband (Delegation of the European Union to Ghana); Patrick Illing, Jérôme Pons (Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea); Amelie Daas, Colin Gleichmann, John Hauert, Fabian Jaekel, Ayda Kasiri, Earl King, Micaela Mihov (GIZ); Benedikt Erforth, Alexander Stöcker, Tina Zintl (German Institute of Development and Sustainability [IDOS]); Elisa Gambino (Global Development Institute, University of Manchester); Thomas Pohl (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau [KfW]); Sebastian Krantz (Kiel Institute for the World Economy [IfW Kiel]); Mondher Khanfir (Independent consultant); Salimata Doumbia (Independent consultant); Dan Preston (Indiana University); Justin Lin, Jia Yu (Institute for New Structural Economics [INSE]); Shuhei Ueno (Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA]); Daisuke Kakuya, Kenichi Ogasawara (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan); Juan Garin, Edwin Lau, Coralie Martin, Vasiliki Mavroeidi, Ida McDonnell, Annalisa Primi, Setsuko Saya, Manuel Toselli, Mamiko Yokoi-Arai (OECD); Katsuhito Miyake (The Overseas Construction Association of Japan Inc.); Thang Nguyen Quoc (Oxford Economics Asia); Jean-Pierre Guengant (Research Institute for Development [IRD]); Lee Everts (United Nations [UN]); Nuno Gil (University of Manchester). The peer review meeting was additionally attended by Yafika Chitanda, Grace Khoza (AfCFTA Secretariat); Tarig Ahmed, Emmanuel Eze, Joseph Nti (African Union); Bernard Cudjoe, Pamla Gopaul, Aboubacar Adamou Hamidou, Wahabou Ibrah, Simon Kisira, Mc Neil Mhango, Mutukwa Musole, Christelle Onana, Lukovi Seke (AUDA-NEPAD); Ehize Ilozavbie, Lucretia Fotmai (American Tower); Hamadou Seyni Siddo (Fonds Africain de Garantie et de Coopération Economique [FAGACE]); Lamine Dia and Sebastian Nieto Parra (OECD).
The report drew from the following consultations held in 2024 and 2025: the Emerging Markets Network (EMnet) Business Meeting on Africa (December 2024), the consultation workshop with AfIDA (January 2025), the AfDD 2025 peer review meeting of the two continental chapters (March 2025), the AfDD 2025 preview at the OECD Development Centre Governing Board Plenary Spring Session (May 2025), the AfDD 2025 preview at the G20 Development Working Group Ministerial Meeting in Skukuza (July 2025), and the AfDD 2025 preview at the Tokyo International Conference for Africa’s Development (August 2025).
The involvement of the publications team was crucial to producing the report on time. The report was edited by Jill Gaston and translated by Marika Boiron, the OECD Translation Services and Serena Indij Da Costa. Delphine Grandrieux and Elizabeth Nash supervised the production and layout. Stephanie Coic created the infographics and the cover.
The AUC and the OECD Development Centre are grateful to the African Union Member States, European Commission (DG INTPA), Germany (BMZ/GIZ), Italy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co‑operation) and Portugal (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P., and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for their support and valuable feedback on this seventh annual edition of Africa’s Development Dynamics.