The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group will host a high-level forum of African Finance Ministers and African Central Bank Governors on the global financial crisis in Tunis, Tunisia, on 12 November 2008. Determined to help find a solution to the crisis, these leaders will dedicate a day to discussions on the impact of the crisis on the continent. They will also propose possible solutions to the crisis, as it affects the continent.
How deeply will the crisis affect African economies? How will the crisis affect Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Africa? Will Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) be permanently affected? What will be the impact of the fall in African commodity prices? How best can African countries and institutions respond to the crisis? These are some of the questions that the ministers will be expected to answer during the forum which is jointly organized by the AfDB and the African Union.
"Although Africa has so far been spared by the crisis, the continent could be seriously affected by a downward spiral in global economic growth and a decline in its exports," the AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka, said recently at a press conference in Tunis. He warned that budgetary constraints resulting from emergency measures adopted by developed countries to protect their economies could result in reductions in ODA. The economic slowdown in developed countries could also result in lay-offs and a hardening of policies on foreign migration that could lead to a drastic reductions in monetary transfers by African workers in the developed world, Mr. Kaberuka added.
