Adequate and predictable financing is indispensible for the successful implementation of development plans and strategies such as Agenda 2063.
This is contained in the ministerial statement of the Eighth Joint annual meetings of the African Union Specialised Technical Committee of Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development meeting held in Addis Ababa from 30-31 March. "While official development assistance has been helpful, it is a fragile platform on which to base a structural transformation agenda" read the statement, calling for domestic mobilization of funds through taxes, sovereign and pensionfunds and other financing mechanisms. The ministers also called for a critical role of central banks in boosting the continents transformation agenda through financing.
Meanwhile, AU Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Agenda 2063 was different from previous strategies that relied on external support to implement.
"If you look at the different plans including NEPAD, the plan was that we trooped from capital to capital of G8 countries looking for money which never came. But with Agenda 2063, we are saying, the mainstay of its implementation should be our own resources and then attract investment from outside," she said during a closing press conference.
The Ministers also endorsed the document, 'Financing for Development - Africa's perspectives' and called upon African negotiators to use the outcomes of the regional consultations as inputs in negotiating the outcome document of the third International Conference on Financing for Development. "We urge Africa to speak with one voice throughout the International Conference on Financing for Development process. We also urge African negotiators to do their utmost to ensure that Africa's interests and concerns are reflected in the final outcome document including in the areas of domestic resource mobilization, international resources for development, international financial and technical cooperation, external debt, the international monetary and trading system and international trade," read the statement.
Data revolution
The Ministers further called for credible statistical information and data as essential for proper planning and measurement of development work. "Africa should generate its own data to enable it to better monitor and track economic and social targets including the goals and objectives of Agenda 2063" read the statement in part and called for a data revolution built on principles of openness and anchored in national statistics systems that were inclusive of all data stakeholders.
Action on Illicit financial flows
The ministers also endorsed recommendations of the final report of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows in Africa and called upon the international community to complement Africa's efforts to track, stop and repatriate illicit financial flows.
The 2015 Conference of Ministers took place from 25-31 March 2015nin Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Over 2000 delegates attended the conference, which also hosted some 25 side events.
Jointly issued by the ECA and the AUC
