Madagascar has signed a compact under Mission 300 (M300), the flagship World Bank and African Development Bank initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. This compact involves a financing commitment of around $300 million to accelerate electrification of the island, one of the least electrified on the continent, with an electricity access rate below 20% of the population.
A context of massive energy ambition
The M300 compact comes in a broader context: Madagascar has presented financing needs exceeding $7 billion for energy, infrastructure and mining projects, according to recent estimates. Alongside this, the National Energy Pact (PEN) sets the direction of Malagasy energy policy for the coming years, with an emphasis on renewables, grid extension and rural mini-grids.
The M300 mission requires Madagascar not just to mobilise funding, but to adopt structural reforms: improving the regulatory framework for the electricity sector, pricing transparency and conditions to attract private investors into energy.
Why it matters
Access to electricity underpins almost everything else: agricultural productivity, industrialisation, investment attractiveness, education and healthcare quality. For a country whose GDP per capita remains among the world's lowest, every connected household is a development lever. The M300 compact is a historic opportunity — provided that sector governance evolves in parallel with the financing.
Sources: World Bank (Mission 300 Madagascar compact), EDBM, Madagascar Newsroom, July 2026.