Governments in the continent are likely to set aside extra money from their budgets to finance the African Agenda 2063 that was adopted by the Heads of state in January.

Experts in finance, planning and economic development meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of Finance ministers forum scheduled for March 30 and 31, propose that effective funding of the Agenda 2063 is to be addressed through mobilisation of domestic resources from the African countries.

The experts agreed that moving from poverty reduction to growth paradigm is key to realising Agenda 2063, the framework for Africa’s development.

According to Anthony Maruping, the commissioner for economic affairs in the African Union Commission, the continent needs to tap into its own wealth to finance its development agendas, most notably the AU Agenda 2063.

He said that based on experience, significant efforts have been made to map the untapped alternative sources of financing from within Africa.

“These show that significant resources could be raised from within Africa, enough to cover about 70 per cent of the development financing needs,” said Mr Maruping.

Agenda 2063 was adopted by the Assembly of the African Union in January this year as the continent’s new long-term vision for the next 50 years.

Discussions on its implementation comes at a time when the world is preparing for the third international conference on financing for development to be hosted in Addis Ababa in July to discuss the funding of the post-2015 development agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Agenda 2063 envisions a six-fold increase in per capita income by 2050, a ten-fold reduction in the number of poor people with two thirds of Africans part of the middle class and a share of global GDP tripling to nine per cent.

Abdalla Hamdok, the deputy executive secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa, said that in order to find viable means to implement the action plans of Agenda 2063 at country or regional level, it is crucial to look at the reasons for which past continental initiatives had limited success.

“While there is potential of financing, the real challenge lies in developing an institutional fabric and strong and trustworthy mechanisms that would allow the entities in charge to implement Agenda 2063 and its Action Plans, tapping into available funds and receive a return on their investment,” said Mr Hamdok.

A range of issues related directly to financing (accessibility, feasibility, costs), he said, need to be addressed. However, there is a need to take a step back and refocus the discussion around financing from a ‘demand-driven’ to a ‘supply-driven’ debate around the questions of incentives, political buy-in and ownership to be able to turn ’potential’ sources into ’accessible’ sources, he added.

Although funding of the Agenda 2063 is to be addressed through mobilisation of domestic resources, Mr Hamdok said international finances would still be required.

“International trade will have to be appropriately reformed, modalities to keep Africa’s debt at sustainable levels should be found and applied, promotion of technology development, transfer and diffusion and innovation as well as capacity building will need to be intensified,” noted Mr Hamdok.

“Africa too needs adequate, accurate and timely statistics in order to plan, monitor and evaluate its structural transformation programmes.”

Country profiles

The final outcome on the modalities of financing will be presented to the African Finance ministers for adoption.

During the week-long conference, the Economic Commission for Africa will launch its first set of five country profiles at a side event to be held during the July 25to 31 Conference of Ministers entitled, “ECA Country Profiles as Policy Making Tools for Structural transformation”. The country profiles are in line with its commitment to providing enhanced services to ECA member States.

Once operational, the profiles will provide countries and regional entities with data and forecasting tools to refocus their energies on macroeconomic and social policies towards achieving structural transformation.

They will also provide decision makers with strategic and practical recommendations, and allow African countries to assess their macroeconomic and social performances; as well as their progress in line with post-2015 development agenda objectives on a regular basis. 

“The new country profiles are not meant to duplicate existing publications by other institutions, but rather to provide a unique overview of challenges and opportunities for structural transformation”, said ECA Executive Secretary, Carlos Lopes.

A key difference between the ECA country profiles and similar products is that they will be based on a sound methodology and on the joint gathering of data with credible national sources, including national statistics offices, finance ministries, central banks and other key stakeholders.