The 2021 edition of the African Economic Conference, which kicks off on Thursday, December 2, is expected to provide an opportunity for heads of state and policymakers to share their views on how to reshape Africa’s development finance models .
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Cape Verde, Olavo Correia, declares that the said conference is “an extremely important opportunity” to chart the course for the development of the continent, including exploring ways to mobilize national resources and to create modern and efficient fiscal and fiscal regimes. He says this is especially important given the COVID-19 pandemic. Correia says now is also the time to explore ways to tackle tax evasion, fraud and other resource draining crimes.
The 2021 edition of the African Economic Conference is organized by the Government of Cape Verde in a hybrid format, in accordance with health guidelines taken in the event of a pandemic. A small group of conference attendees will physically meet in Sal, a popular tourist destination in the archipelago nation. The rest will participate virtually. The said conference is jointly organized by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Program.
The partners brought together leading thinkers including Nobel Laureate Roger Myerson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Cape Verde, Cabo Verde Olavo Avelino Garcia Correia, President of the Center for Global Development, Masood Ahmed, and Africa Development Solutions Group CEO Samba Bathily, to deliberate on the continent’s most pressing challenges. Discussions will focus on strengthening Africa’s position in the international financial system, reimagining financing for development and mobilizing domestic public and private resources in the age of the digital revolution, among others.
The average growth of the African economy is estimated at 3.4% this year, after the worst recession in 50 years, in 2020. However, this growth could be negatively affected by the slowness of the vaccination process and the uncertainty. emerging variants such as Omicron, released last week by scientists in South Africa. The conference ends on December 4.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that the status quo will lead to failure,” said Raymond Gilpin, head of the strategy, analysis and research team, at the UNDP regional office for Africa . “This conference provides a space to examine innovative solutions and sustainable options available to finance the development of African countries. During the conference, we will explore 36 innovative empirical analyzes that suggest ways to do development differently. The 2021 African Economic Conference will provide us with a unique opportunity to contribute to a much needed reset across Africa. ”
“Increasingly, the continent is looking to capital markets as a source of finance, taking into account the future of Africa’s financial structure or conjecture, as well as taking into account the sustainability of Africa. the debt. We hope that this conference will be an opportunity for African governments to structure projects that will see the contribution in terms of private sector financing as part of the recovery process ”, says Bartholomew Armah, Director of the Macroeconomics and Research Division. governance, at the Economic Commission for Africa.
African Development Bank Director of Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Hanan Morsy says, “Financing Africa’s post-COVID-19 development will require ready-made solutions in order to mobilize more national resources, attract more private investment. The 2021 edition of the African Economic Conference will provide concrete and actionable policy recommendations on how to achieve these three goals, drawing on the rich and extensive experience of high-level policy makers, development practitioners, stakeholders from the private sector, academics and other stakeholders who will attend the conference ”.
