“We don’t need your support anymore” – AfCFTA Secretary General to foreign creditors
Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, has called on foreign creditors to reduce fiscal support (both in the form of grants or loans) to African nations.
According to the Secretary General, the Continent has reached the stage where it is capable of financing its own development with support from African financial institutions such as the African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank).
“Very soon I will be going to Brussels and I am not going to go with cup in hand to beg for money, in fact I am going to tell the creditors in the EU to do less, they should reduce their support to African nations (sic).
“We are as Africans must now finance our own development and we can do that because we have the AfDB and Afrieximbank. We are now going to finance our own development.
“We don’t need support anymore, so do less. We are not going to go cup in hand to the World Bank, IMF and other foreign creditors but to our own financial institutions,” he stated.
The Secretary General made the above assertions speaking during the signing ceremony of the Fund Management Agreement relating to the Base Fund of the AfCFTA Adjustment Facility monitored by NorvanReports.
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The Secretary General made the statements in the context of the AfCFTA and its role in the economic integration and transformation of the African Continent.
Adding his voice to the remarks made by the Mr Mene, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afrieximbank, Benedict Oramah averred, “Nobody who wants development goes to beg others to bring development, when you outsource development to others, they will tell you how your development should look like.”
“They will design it like they way they designed theirs, because they will think our problems are like theirs, but African problems are different. Our problems are peculiar,” he added.
Touching on the $1 billion AfCFTA Adjustment Facility, Professor Oramah noted the Fund is a necessary tool to ensure that no country becomes worse off in the implementation of the AfCFTA.
The $1 billion facility is expected to help AfCFTA participating countries lessen the impact of sudden significant tariff revenue losses.
He commended the AU Assembly for approving and issuing directives for the quick implementation of the AfCFTA Adjustment Facility at the just ended 35th Ordinary Session of the AU.
“We will build the structure that makes the AfCFTA a real implementable agreement and not a political wish. We have an urgent task to deliver in the aspirations of our people,” he added.
