Chairman of the African Caucus group, Ken Ofori-Atta, has presented to the World bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), five areas of utmost priority to Africa’s development.
The five areas of focus for development of the continent was presented to the IMF and World bank in a memorandum by the African Caucus during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions in Washington DC.
The Caucus, led by the Finance Minister, wants the Fund and the World Bank to focus on five priority areas to help bring about the much needed transformation of the continent and to attain the Sustainable Development Goals.
The five priority areas include; strengthening institutional capacity and public financial management, enhancing human capacity and skills development to accelerate job creation and economic transformation, promoting innovative finance for private sector led growth, ensuring a robust International Development Assistance replenishment and enhancing Africa’s voice and representation in the two institutions (IMF and World Bank).
The Memorandum also called on the two institutions to re-examine the current global arrangements in commodity pricing and trading, sovereign rating, insurance premiums and promoting Africa Bond Markets.
They also requested that measures be taken to increase the recruitment of more people of African descent into the two institutions, especially in the middle to senior management levels.
“We reiterate our long standing call for a third chair for Sub-Saharan Africa at the IMF and World Bank Executive Board to improve representation of African countries,” the Caucus stated.
David Malpass and Kristalina Georgieva, heads of the two Britton Woods Institutions both pledged their support to assist the Continent achieve its vision and priority areas of focus during their tenure.
The African Caucus’ meetings with the Fund and the Bank is a platform for the group to exchange views on issues of utmost priority to Africa’s development with the Heads of the Bretton Woods Institutions.
Mr Ofori-Atta handed over to Alamine Ousmane Mey, the Minister for Economy, Planning and Regional Development of Cameroon after his one year tenure as Chair of the Caucus ended after the meeting.
Source: MoF|Adomonline.com|Fuaad Dodoo