The Iran war has exposed Africa’s vulnerability to fuel chokepoints and is heading for a 86 million tonne fuel shortfall by 2040, AFP reports, citing the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

Africa imports over 70 per cent of its refined fuel and some $230 billion worth of essential goods, including fuel, food, plastics, steel, and fertiliser each year, the AFC says in a report released in Nairobi.

Its dependence on fuel imports will continue to rise from 74 million tonnes in 2023 to 86m tonnes in 2040, says the report by the pan-African finance institution.

“Not only is it importing fuel, but on the eastern side of the continent, those imports are vulnerable to chokepoints — we’ve all learned about the Strait of Hormuz this year, and it’s not the only chokepoint,” says the AFC’s chief economist Rita Babihuga-Nsanze at the report’s launch.