African nations should borrow, boost domestic revenue and tap its pension and sovereign wealth funds to develop ​the crucial infrastructure required to benefit from an AI ‌boom, the Ethiopia-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said in a report on Thursday.

The continent’s more than 50 countries are at risk of ​missing out on AI-boosted economic modernisation due to lack ​of infrastructure, the report said.

Less than 1% of the world’s ⁠data centres are based in Africa, which poses “an economic and sovereignty ​challenge,” the report said.

“Strategic investments in data infrastructure and energy generation ​can reinforce each other by enabling digital industries while supporting electricity demand and reliability,” the UN commission said in the report released at a meeting ​of African ministers of finance in Morocco.

The UN report said that “public ​budgets alone will not suffice,” and that governments must strengthen domestic tax collection ‌and ⁠tap financial markets, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and blended finance.

Governments should also prioritise skills training and fully implement the pan-African free trade area (AfCFTA) to complement a technology investment drive.

AI adoption, the ​report said, along ​with digital ⁠platforms and robotic production systems, could help the continent diversify its reliance on commodity exports and ​sell more finished, high-value products.

‘Today, competitiveness increasingly depends on ​a ⁠country’s capacity to generate, govern, and apply data and frontier technologies,” the UN commission said.

It said tapping technology could also help African ⁠countries use ​more of their own abundant critical ​mineral deposits to produce batteries, processors and other manufactured goods, rather than simply exporting ​them.

REUTERS