Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia court new infrastructure financing as Chinese and US investors chase growth projects

Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia have intensified efforts to secure new financing for large-scale infrastructure projects across transport, energy, and water sectors in 2024, officials said. The push aims to support economic growth and industrialization, with countries tapping multilateral platforms and attracting investment from Chinese, U.S. and other bilateral sources, according to multilateral institutions.

Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia are prioritizing large-scale infrastructure investments as a core strategy for economic growth and industrialization, officials and multilateral institutions said. The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed €740 million in financing for Morocco in 2025, the largest annual amount since 2012, targeting water, energy, education, healthcare, roads, and post-earthquake reconstruction, EIB Global records show.

Morocco plans a major public infrastructure scale-up from 2024 to 2030 equivalent to about 12% of its 2024 GDP, focusing on transport, energy, water, and social services, according to International Monetary Fund analysis.

Morocco’s infrastructure strategy also includes the Royal Atlantic Initiative, launched in late 2023, which aims to strengthen Atlantic connectivity for West African countries through ports, railways and regional infrastructure. The initiative seeks to provide landlocked Sahel nations such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger with reliable access to global trade routes via Atlantic ports, according to official Moroccan government sources. The plan emphasizes development of shared port and transport infrastructure as public goods benefiting multiple countries and is framed as supporting regional peace, stability and economic resilience, making it relevant to U.S., Chinese and multilateral investors.

Egypt has developed an ambitious pipeline of infrastructure projects in energy, transport, water and urban development, mobilizing significant multilateral and bilateral financing, according to an OECD infrastructure finance review. In 2026, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Ahmed Rostom, inaugurated a high-level consultation with the World Bank Group to establish an infrastructure financing and guarantee mechanism aimed at de-risking large projects and attracting private capital. The mechanism focuses on improving access to long-term financing and risk-sharing tools, including guarantees, particularly for energy, transport and urban infrastructure sectors, officials said. Egypt’s strategy explicitly seeks to mobilize private investment alongside public and multilateral funds through public-private partnerships, guarantees and blended finance instruments, according to OECD analysis.

Egypt and Morocco recently signed a series of cooperation agreements to reinforce bilateral relations across housing, electricity, renewable energy, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and tourism. The agreements include an industrial cooperation protocol and a memorandum of understanding between Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones and the Moroccan Agency for Investment and Export Development to boost investment relations and joint projects. They also cover mutual administrative assistance in customs, a deal to avoid double taxation and combat tax evasion on income, and cooperation in electricity and renewable energy, providing a framework for joint grid, generation and energy transition projects that could attract third-country investors. The first meeting of the Egyptian-Moroccan Coordination and Follow-up Committee was formalized by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, sources confirmed.

Ethiopia has invested heavily in mega infrastructure projects in recent years, particularly in railways, industrial parks and hydropower, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. Public messaging emphasizes these projects as central to Ethiopia’s growth and industrialization agenda, aiming to transform the country into a regional manufacturing and logistics hub, according to Ethiopian government communications and regional media reports. These flagship investments have attracted international attention and required substantial external and domestic financing. Ethiopia’s infrastructure pipeline includes assets in power, transport and industrial zones that are candidates for refinancing, expansion or complementary investments from foreign investors, including Chinese and U.S. institutions, officials said.

On a regional level, African platforms are emerging to accelerate infrastructure financing for priority cross-border projects. The Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFF) was formally launched on Feb. 14, 2025, by African Heads of State and Government as a coordinated, Africa-led platform to accelerate project preparation and financing aligned with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. AIFF operates under a Cooperation Framework Agreement between AUDA-NEPAD and the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), also known as the “Africa Club,” which was launched in February 2024 to coordinate infrastructure financing strategies among African-owned development financiers. AIFF is designed to facilitate indicative, non-binding engagement on financing, serving as a pipeline-building tool to mobilize capital from China, the U.S., Europe and global private investors, according to official statements from AUDA-NEPAD.

Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia can tap AIFF and AAMFI alongside bilateral initiatives and domestic reform efforts to attract new infrastructure financing. These platforms provide additional channels to market regional and cross-border infrastructure projects to major global investors, complementing efforts to improve investment climates and project preparation capacity, OECD and multilateral sources said.