Page 504 - 2016 - Vol. 40

3. Reducing political and regulatory risks in African
countries by carrying out political, economic and social
reforms; such as addressing culture of corruption,
establishing standards of transparency in public
administration, and improving law enforcement.

VI. Conclusion
Though Africa suffers from low electricity access rates

(especially in rural areas), it still enjoys abundance in renewable
energy resources that can enable African countries to meet their
increasing energy demand and their accelerating growth rates.
A lot of evidences in other developing and emerging economies
show that private investments can play a major role at improving
renewable energy sector in African countries.

To mobilize these investments, African governments
need to address the different barriers that private actors face
in renewable energy sector; financial, regulatory, and capacity
barriers. This can be achieved by taking various reform steps;
such as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, introducing feed-
in tariffs, establishing standards of transparency in public
administration, and improving law enforcement. Furthermore,
African governments need to intensify the benefits and incentives
these private actors shall get from engaging in energy sector.
This can be done by exploiting international resources made
available by developed countries to developing countries in the
form of bilateral or multilateral official development assistance
to support using clean sources of energy.

- 16 -