Africa suffers from a severe deficit in infrastructure, Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, Sim Tshabalala, has said.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, where he was one of the panelists discussing Catalysing Capital for Africa, Tshabalala said Africa has amongst the lowest investment GDP ratios in all the regions - about 22%.

“This suggests that we need to execute projects and investments that are development in nature and that give rise to terms that adequately remunerate those who are willing to invest in those projects,” he said.

Tshabalala added that investors would do well to partner with local players, and cited three examples where this is working extremely well.

The first is President Obama’s Power Africa initiative, where $7bn is being leveraged for energy infrastructure on the continent.

Standard Bank is involved in a number of these projects in four countries, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and Kenya.

“This is a classic example of mobilising not just capital but also know-how, advice and legal structures and thereby mobilising American resources, through the likes of GE, as well as local resources. We have several hundred million dollars invested in this project,” said Tshabalala.

The second example is the Renewable Energy Power Producers Programme in South Africa.

Here Standard Bank and its competitors have entered into partnerships that have made a significant difference to ending South Africa’s power deficit, said Tshabalala.

The final example is the Clean Development Mechanism where governments have access to carbon trading products offered by banks and thereby helping to generate revenue.

"One example is the Nelson Mandela Municipality in Port Elizabeth which, through this mechanism, has been able to provide the local community with 110 000 solar water heaters," said Tshabalala.