It is hardly one finds as vocal and authoritative voice as Vera Songwe when it comes to domestic resource mobilisation in Africa. An economist by training and once a senior director at the World Bank (WB), she braved the pivotal issue of weak internal resource mobilisation in the continent in the presence of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission.
The two gentlemen, amongst others, were present at the African Economic Conference, themed "Governance for Structural Transformation", held last week by the African Development Bank (AfDB), inside the UNECA. Now elevated to the position of Executive Secretary of the ECA, Songwe affirmed that the continent, with an average of 19pc of tax revenues to a gross domestic product (GDP), was the weakest performer in utilising and enhancing its riches. For Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC), the average is 22pc, while for members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), it is 34pc. Africa, true to form, lags behind.
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