The 54th session of the annual Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (CoM 2022) was held in Dakar, Senegal. CoM 2022 was held from May 11 to 17, 2022, under the theme “Financing Africa’s Recovery and Breaking New Ground.”
In light of growing concerns relating to African economic growth and development, significant attention was given towards enabling African economies to overcome a variety of challenges, through further financial interventions.
According to the ECA press release, the main challenges facing African economies include the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and its effect on the prices of basic foodstuffs such as wheat, oil and more. Similarly, the threat of climate change, drought and other unpredictable weather patterns has the potential to wreak havoc on African economic growth.
At CoM2022, participants and experts requested the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to support the “extension of the debt service suspension initiative for another two years” and to encourage the DFIs concerned to reallocate Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to the countries most in need (ECA press release, May 17, 2022).
“The resolutions can be effectively worked up within a year or at least before the next session”, stated Amadou Hott, Senegal’s Minister of Economy, Planning and International Cooperation.
Innovative financing options were also discussed at the conference:
“We look forward to seeing carbon financing. We also want to advocate that Africa can fall on gas as we transition to sustainable energy. This will transform our economies through industrialization, ” said Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the ECA.
As African economic growth and development remains a fundamental priority for both the continent and world at large, it’s important to ensure that the continent as a whole is empowered towards ensuring continued economic growth.
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