Senior African and European policymakers on Tuesday called for strategic economic reforms to attract investment, strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation and deepen regional integration, following the launch of the African Development Bank's African Economic Outlook 2026 at the Bank Group's annual meetings in Brazzaville.
Two high-level plenary panels brought together officials from Tanzania, Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the UN Population Fund.
The report, released earlier in the day at the Kintele Conference Centre, urged African countries to mobilise domestic resources and attract long-term capital amid mounting global shocks, declining aid flows and rising debt burdens. It projects a stronger average GDP growth for Africa in 2026 despite persistent global uncertainty, driven by stronger domestic demand, infrastructure investment and expanding regional trade. However, it notes that debt-servicing costs, climate-related shocks and declining concessional financing continue to constrain fiscal space across many African economies.
Launching the report, African Development Bank Group President Dr Sidi Ould Tah said Africa's economic performance and macroeconomic outlook for 2026 provided reason for optimism.
"However, we must remain clear-headed and vigilant, both to consolidate the current performance of our economies and to address the structural challenges of financing our development," he added.
Representing the United Kingdom, Baroness Jenny Chapman, Minister of State for International Development and Africa and the AfDB's Governor, said London was shifting from a donor-recipient approach towards investment partnerships designed to attract private capital.
"The scale of ambition that African countries have compared to the amount of investment currently moving into African economies shows a clear mismatch," she said. "The idea that we can continue in the same way simply does not make sense anymore."
Chapman called for reforms to global credit rating systems, arguing that inflated risk perceptions were unnecessarily raising borrowing costs for African governments. She also announced a package of support, including £70 million in hybrid capital for the African Development Bank and $3 billion in guarantees.
"We need to see change measured in the high billions, if not trillions, of dollars moving into African economies," she said.
Tanzania's Prime Minister, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, said his country finances more than 70 percent of its national budget through domestic revenues while sustaining growth above six per cent. He attributed the performance to robust tax institutions, digitalisation and prudent public spending, citing the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project and the country's expanding standard-gauge railway as examples of domestically financed infrastructure that had strengthened public trust in the tax system.
"When taxpayers see roads, railways and electricity projects built with their contributions, compliance improves," he said.
Botswana's Vice-President and Finance Minister, Ndaba Gaolathe, said the government had narrowed more than 7,000 investment proposals to 186 execution-ready projects through a rigorous screening process involving investors, state agencies and financial institutions.
He warned that bureaucratic delays could be as damaging as capital shortages. "Red tape is the same thing as destroying capital," he said, adding that institutional capacity remained the continent's primary constraint.
Sweden's Governor Hilda Sandberg cautioned that global development assistance was contracting at a time when fragile economies still faced acute financing pressures. She stressed the importance of the African Development Bank maintaining its AAA credit rating.
"The bank needs to remain an absolutely risk-free institution," she said.
UN Population Fund Executive Director Dr Diene Keita urged policymakers to treat investment in women, girls and human capital as core economic priorities rather than secondary social spending.
"If Africa wants inclusive growth and wants to fight inequality, it must invest in human capital and gender equality," she said.
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, described Africa's tax-to-GDP ratio of 16 percent -- the lowest in the world -- as a critical vulnerability and urged governments to aim at 25 percent. He also urged countries to accelerate implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area and develop regional value chains in agriculture and critical minerals.
Finnish Governor Emmi Oikari said regional integration was key to attracting investment at scale, citing Finland's experience after joining the European Union. "Regional integration creates scale, and scale attracts investment," she said.
Republic of the Congo's Minister of Economy, Planning, Statistics and Forecasting, Ludovic Ngatse, warned that Central African economies were growing only marginally faster than their populations, limiting poverty reduction.
Côte d'Ivoire's Finance Minister Adama Coulibaly underlined the urgency of protecting food security against global supply chain disruptions.
The panels, moderated by Dr Joy Kategekwa, Director of Regional Integration Coordination at the African Development Bank, concluded that benchmarking national frameworks against the report's findings could help countries strengthen national institutions, capital markets, and regulatory systems tailored to African conditions
