AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
IMF ADVICE TO ATTRACT MORE PRIVATE FINANCE TO AFRICA Faced with the multiple challenges posed by development issues, African states must lure private investors to secure the financing they need to achieve their objectives. This is a complex process that the IMF has recently examined, with several recommendations. By Jacques Leroueil, in Kigali
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“The private sector could, by the end of the decade, bring additional annual financing equivalent to 3 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP for physical and social infrasPattillo (Deputy Director of the tructure” six Africa Department), last June, pu-
While one out of every people on earth live in Africa (1.38 billion out of 7.9 billion), the continent continues to account for only a negligible share (3%) of global GDP. This is due to a level of development that is still insufficient in many respects to «weigh» in the global economic balance. However, in order to raise this level in the long term, significant funding for infrastructure and the main productive sectors will be required. This need has become even more pressing in the wake of the unprecedented economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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ATTRACTING PRIVATE FINANCE TO AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT So how can we finance these high development needs? To answer this essential question, three senior officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Abebe Aemro Selassie (Director of the Africa Department), Luc Eyraud (Mission Chief in the Africa Department) and Catherine
blished a blog post entitled «How to attract private finance to Africa’s development? In the preamble, the article reminds us that, all other things being equal, the main source of financing would be more tax revenue collections, something that most countries are working towards. But, given the scale of the needs, authors of the blogpost quickly argue that “new financing sources will have to be mobilized from the international community and the private sector.” With this in mind, the IMF teams estimate that “the private sector
