Africa’s savings worth USD 4 trillion get siphoned out of the continent and stashed overseas. Says President Ruto

Africa holds nearly USD4 trillion in long-term domestic savings through pension funds, insurance assets, and central bank reserves.

However, much of this capital gets invested overseas, despite Africa facing an annual financing gap of more than USD400 billion.

“Africa does not suffer from a shortage of capital. Africa suffers from a shortage of institutions capable of transforming risk, mobilizing savings and connecting them to productive investment,” Kenyan President William Ruto pointed out.

Speaking during the 26th Annual General Meeting of the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), President William Ruto issued a clarion call for Africa to strengthen its financial institutions and fund its development on its own terms.

The meetings, was held in Nairobi under the theme: “Empowering Africa: Risk Managed, Growth Unlocked”.

“For years, we have called for a fairer global financial architecture, one that stops mispricing African risk and making our capital needlessly expensive. That call remains right. But Africa cannot wait for reform elsewhere. While the world debates reform, Africa must build,” Ruto said at a gala dinner at State House held to commemorate ATIDI’s 25th anniversary.

Ruto endorsed the establishment of the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD), an initiative launched by Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) in April 2026.

The NAFAD aims to call African institutions to work together to strengthen the continent’s risk-sharing mechanisms, to reduce the continent’s borrowing costs, and to unlock domestic capital at scale for Africa’s development.

President Ruto said that NAFAD would help plug this USD400bn financing gap by leveraging the collective strengths of the continent’s leading multilateral financial institutions to catalyze increased domestic and global investment.

At the heart of NAFAD is the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), which brings continental powerhouses like the AfDB, Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, ATIDI, and others. President Ruto announced that, in support of the alliance, the Government of Kenya had approved the establishment of its Secretariat in Nairobi.

Ruto called for ATIDI’s recapitalization to USD2 billion, noting that every dollar invested in the continent’s guarantee architecture has the potential to mobilize ten dollars more in private capital.

Kenya remains a strategic market for ATIDI, with the organization’s solutions unlocking more than USD7 billion in investments across energy, transport, manufacturing, agriculture, and trade sectors.

To deepen that partnership, President Ruto announced that Kenya will, subject to the necessary national processes, progressively increase its shareholding in ATIDI from USD25 million to USD65 million. He also presented ATIDI with the title deed for land for the construction of its permanent headquarters.

A legacy worth protecting

On his part the ATIDI CEO Manuel Moses reflected on the silver jubilee. He said that the organization had “demonstrated that African solutions are often best placed to address Africa’s unique challenges and opportunities.”

Since its inception, ATIDI has catalyzed more than USD93 billion in private investment across Africa through innovative risk mitigation instruments like political risk and credit insurance that strengthen investor confidence.

Its shareholder base, meanwhile, has grown from seven founding members to 24 African countries, 13 institutional members and 1 non-African member state.

It also remains one of Africa’s highest rated insurers, having consistently maintained an investment grade rating with major global credit rating agencies since its founding.

 Moses expressed confidence in the institution’s financial strength, underwriting capacity, and strategic direction, citing its strong 2025 results.

In 2025, ATIDI recorded strong financial performance, with total exposure increasing to USD9.2 billion from USD8.9 billion in 2024, profit for the year rising by 20 percent to USD 71.4 million, total assets growing by 20 percent to USD1.06 billion, and total equity increasing by 12 percent to USD883 million.

President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, called for greater support to African financial institutions. He highlighted the role of institutions such as ATIDI in making Africa’s high‑potential industries more attractive to local investors, many of whom continue to deploy their funds overseas due to persistent misperceptions of risk on the continent.

 The African Development Bank Group recently decided to increase its participation in the capital of ATIDI five folds, becoming the largest institutional shareholder of ATIDI. 

“The challenge before us is not a lack of capital or opportunities, but a persistent mispricing of the African risk, and this is leading to excessive cost of capital in the continent”, President Tah said.

Professor Kithure Kindiki, Kenya’s deputy president, echoed the call for stronger private‑sector participation in Africa’s economic development, citing the fiscal constraints and debt pressures facing many African governments.

“The public sector doesn’t have enough resources to undertake some of the ambitions that we have, so that money will have to come from private investments,” he said.