Dakar, Senegal 23 December 2016 - The African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) organized in partnership with ECAs Capacity Development Division (CDD) a two-week course on Domestic Resource Mobilization and Investment in Africa from 5th to 16th December 2016 at IDEP headquarters in Dakar, Senegal. It was attended by mid-career and senior level government officials working in the Ministries of Finance, Economic Affairs and Development of 23 countries in the departments responsible for economic planning, budgeting, tax policy, resource mobilization, financial sectors and investment policy. The five African sub-regions were represented.
In view of the volatility of aid flows in recent years, domestic resource mobilization is increasingly perceived as an important way of ensuring the predictability and sustainability of funds to finance development plans and policies in developing countries. The shift in aid flows has led to the inclusion of improving domestic resource mobilization as a target in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which requires strengthening capacities at the national level to raise taxes and mobilize other incomes.
It is in this context that IDEP and CDD jointly conducted a course on Domestic Resource Mobilization and Investment in Africa aimed at providing participants with a clear understanding of the key constraints to effective domestic resource mobilization, and to present a range of policy options that can be employed in resource mobilization at various levels and promote investments in strategic sectors. The course addressed several key issue including the potential of domestic resource in Africa, illicit financial flows, institutional arrangements and investment management in Africa.
IDEP Director, Ms. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, underlined the multiple benefits associated with domestic resources mobilization and said that in addition to being a predictable source for financing long term development plans, domestic resources are a means of ensuring African countries ownership of their development agenda. She highlighted the need to build the capacities of African policymakers to address domestic resource mobilization constraints. These include, ineffective taxation mechanisms, the limited level of financial inclusion and governance challenges.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, a representative of the participants welcomed the importance and timeliness of the course in light of recent developments in the global economy and the increasing financing needs of African countries. He said that the course had equipped them with the required skills and knowledge to formulate policy reforms aimed at
developing better performing financial systems, improving tax collection and responding to savings and investment needs of domestic households and enterprises.
For her part, Madame Fatou Diane, Technical Advisor at the General Directorate of Planning and Economic Policies in the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning of Senegal emphasized the need for African countries to intensify efforts to increase the share of domestic resources in the financing of investments in strategic sectors. She also stressed the need to invest in infrastructure development to promote economic growth.
As part of the training, participants attended the high level launch of the joint ECA/NEPAD report entitled:16 infrastructure projects for African integration, commissioned by President Macky Sall of Senegal, who serves as Chair of the NEPAD Heads of States and Governments Orientation Committee, following the Dakar Summit on Infrastructure organized in 2014. The event gave participants a first hand appreciation of the challenges associated with the mobilization of resources to finance key infrastructure projects.
The closing session of the course was chaired by Madame Fatou Diane; and was attended by embassies of countries represented in the course (namely: Cameroon, Comoros, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia and Zimbabwe), the team of experts who facilitated the course and IDEP Management and staff.
The African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) is a Pan-African Institution created in 1962 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. IDEP is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org