British International Investment targets £9 billion in new African capital for economic growth

British International Investment, the UK government’s development finance institution, has announced a target of mobilising £9 billion in new capital for Sub-Saharan Africa, according to AllAfrica reports on Thursday. The announcement positions BII as an active participant in the growing gap left by the sharp contraction of US and other Western bilateral aid flows that the IMF has formally described as structural rather than cyclical.

BII has historically focused on private sector investment across sectors including infrastructure, financial services, and clean energy. The £9 billion figure represents an ambition to crowd in private capital through co-financing, guarantees, and direct equity, rather than grant-based development assistance. The UK’s approach — deploying development finance alongside commercial investors rather than replacing government expenditure — reflects a different model from traditional official development assistance, but it is unlikely to fully offset the scale of the aid contraction documented at this month’s IMF Spring Meetings, where bilateral aid to Sub-Saharan Africa was estimated to have fallen by up to 28 percent in 2025 alone.

Further details on the sectoral and geographic allocation of the £9 billion target were not immediately available. BII’s previous portfolio has been concentrated in East Africa and West Africa, with energy, agribusiness, and financial services among its principal investment verticals.