The Economic Commission of the African Union, in partnership with the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), held in Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, from 4 to 8 March 2019, the third session of the specialized technical committee (CTS) on finance , monetary affairs, economic planning and integration.
For 4 days, African experts and ministers in charge of finance and planning laid the groundwork for the transformation of African economies in the context of integration, strengthening trade through the implementation of financial instruments continent and the continental free trade zone.
According to the final report that sanctioned this third session of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) of the African Union, the Ministers in charge of the finances of the member states and the Association of African Central Banks worked on the harmonization of the operating framework African regional communities to achieve a productive transformation of their respective economies as summarized in Agenda 2063, “The Africa We Want”.
The report of the Yaoundé session, as well as previous reflections, indicate that, for some time, African states have been working on a collective initiative aimed at the effective free movement of people and goods across the continent, but to no avail. It is in this context that the specialized technical committee of the Union spares no effort to implement the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund, the African Investment Bank and the African Stock Exchange.
The need for the implementation of Africa’s own financing instruments would distance it from the economic and financial mechanisms inherited from colonization. Africa must transform its economy into an economic platform of production and not into a consumer economy platform, as it has been for nearly 60 years.
In this perspective, the establishment of financial institutions for the African Union under the Syria Treaty, will contribute to the development of a strong and modern African financial system, facilitate payments and settlements, and reduce the risks of exchange rate volatility associated with cross-border trade and investment.
The idea of setting up a rating agency is therefore essential to assess the risks incurred by companies operating on the continent.
It is unacceptable after 60 years that the statistics of African states are produced by non-African institutions such as the OECD and the European Union. It is to overcome this deficit that the AU Economic Commission under the Shasa2 (Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa) initiative produced and presented to Addis Ababa in July 2018 the first report of the statistics of African states. For a continent that wants to be transformed must be able to control its own development levers with the definition of its qualitative and quantitative criteria.
The Yaoundé session, which also focused on monetary integration in Central Africa, as indicated by an AU source; Some countries have in the past resisted the notion of union and the harmonization of legal and institutional frameworks. According to this source, it is clear that the Yaoundé meeting helped to advance the process of implementing a tangible subregional harmonization.
In light of all the above, it is important to stress that the transformation of African natural resources by adding value, the development of infrastructure and the modernization of the African financial market are essential for the implementation of the Free Trade Area. continental African continent (ZLECAf).
During 2019, the AU Commission will launch the next phase of the ZLEAF negotiations, such as the development of the regulation on goods produced under special economic arrangements (Annex areas on rules of origin); the development of a mechanism for the identification, monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers, etc.
The African Union Commission remains confident that the 22 ratifications required for implementation will be obtained shortly and that the launch of the ZLECAf will be effective at the AU Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held on July 6, 2019 in Niamey, Niger.
Regarding the state of integration at the regional level, the Yaoundé session noted that although some Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have made significant progress in trade and the free movement of people, goods and services. services, rationalization of the RECs remains a common task.
The weakness of intra- and extra-CER infrastructure networks and the reluctance of Member States to give up some of their sovereignty are other challenges. The AU Commission has just developed a Multidimensional Index of African Regional Integration (IMIRA) to measure efforts and progress on integration and to identify obstacles to the necessary corrective actions . It is an effective statistical tool. Africa can not measure its progress in achieving the goals of Agenda 2063 without following this approach.
Indeed, it is with this in mind that the Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union, Prof. Victor Harrison, urged member states to take all necessary steps to sign and ratify the legal instruments of financial institutions. He said in his presentation that the African Union Commission, for its part, is working closely with the Association of African Central Banks to monitor countries’ macroeconomic performance in order to create the necessary conditions for the creation of the African Union. African Central Bank.
The same work is also done with the Association of African Stock Exchanges (ASEA) for the realization of the project of the Pan African Stock Exchange.
In addition, Victor Harrison informed African ministers and experts present in Yaounde that the reference book on the “Mobilization of domestic resources: fight against corruption and the FFI” whose production was decided at the end of the session of the CTS 2018 is being finalized and is expected to be released in the coming months.
The Yaoundé CTS session specified that corruption is one of the hindrances to inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The session noted that corruption discourages investors and increases inequality. In this regard, efforts should be directed to examining the right mix of policies, checking national laws, and enacting laws according to the changing global context. In addition, the meeting highlighted the need to address the problem of illicit financial flows (IFFs). In doing so, it was noted that there is a need to improve governance and accountability to reduce the financial haemorrhage of illicit financial flows through the fight against corruption.
Speaking at the session, Cameroon Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze said: “Africa, despite its many mineral resources, accounts for only a meager percentage of the world’s commercial input and still imports almost everything, including currencies, which made it rich, but very poor. ”
The 2014 Yaoundé STC concluded that financing for Africa’s development requires a comprehensive approach that harnesses the potential of domestic resource mobilization.
Rodrigue Fénelon Massala
