• The Special Drawing Rights reallocation initiative is an innovative tool that doubles the African Development Bank's ability to support African countries.
• Achieving sustainable stability in the continent's economies requires more collaboration between international institutions and multilateral development banks.
During the annual meetings of the African Development Bank held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation and Alternate Governor for Egypt to the Bank, participated in a high-level event to launch the African Economic Outlook Report for 2024, which was launched by the Bank. The report presents the continent's economic performance and its short and medium-term forecasts, the financing needs to accelerate structural transformation and support development, the opportunities and challenges facing African countries in achieving this transformation, as well as the implementable strategies, policies and measures to accelerate the pace of structural transformation in African countries, the impact of the international financial system on developmental achievements in Africa, the expected effects of measures to develop the international financial structure on the economies of African countries, in addition to the roles that international financial institutions and multilateral development banks can play in supporting transformation in the African continent.
In her speech, the Minister of International Cooperation said that the world has been facing complex, interconnected and unprecedented challenges since the beginning of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, food security and energy supply crises, as well as climate change, which is hindering progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and widening the gap between developing and developed countries. Dr. Al-Mashat affirmed that these challenges and crises are reflected more on African countries in light of the challenges they face, such as high poverty rates and lack of development efforts.
Dr. Al-Mashat pointed out that the report has the advantage of comparing the economic situation in African countries, and that it can also be a strong voice for Africa at the international level to present the real situation of the economy at the continent level, emphasizing the importance of the Special Drawing Rights reallocation initiative, which was proposed by the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank and approved by the International Monetary Fund, to direct Special Drawing Rights to multilateral development banks, thus providing more resources to African countries.
The Minister mentioned that the initiative was a major development in the dialogue between the leaders of multilateral development banks to reach innovative solutions to bridge the development financing gap and enhance the role of these institutions in overcoming the complex challenges facing the world, pointing out that achieving structural transformation in Africa requires macroeconomic stability, while global shocks prevent achieving this stability.
Dr. Al-Mashat explained that the financing gap is one of the most important issues highlighted in the report in African countries, confirming that local resources alone will not be sufficient to bridge the financing gap, so the active participation of the private sector in various sectors has become a necessity to achieve structural transformation and mobilize the necessary capital for investment. Her Excellency also emphasized the importance of preparing and stabilizing the macro-economy in a way that encourages the private sector to provide investments and increase available financing.
The opening speech of the event was delivered by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, and the session was attended by Professor Kevin Chika Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management at the African Development Bank, Mr. Njuguna Ndung'u, Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury in Kenya and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank Group, Ms. Barbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary for the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation in Germany, Ms. Alexia Latortue, Assistant Secretary of State for International Trade and Development, US Treasury, Ms. Nardos Bekele Thomas, CEO of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, RegionalVice President for East and Southern Africa at the World Bank, Ambassador Albert Muchanga, Commissioner for Economic Development, Tourism, Trade, Industry and Minerals at the African Union, Mr. Ismael Nabé, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation of the Republic of Guinea, and Dr. Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.