Africa’s dependence on foreign aid has never helped its development – Muchanga

Ambassador Albert Muchanga, the Africa Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining, says African countries’ reliance on foreign aid for development has not helped them to achieve their development aspirations.

He, therefore, entreated African governments to devise innovative ways of improving domestic tax revenue mobilisation to enable the continent to undertake infrastructural development and social interventions.

Currently, Africa’s average tax revenue mobilisation rate to gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 15 per cent, as against 25 per cent in South America and 34 per cent in Europe, he stated.

Ambassador Muchanga made this known during a news briefing in Accra on the sidelines of the African Union Mid-Year Coordination Meeting on Saturday.

He said the African Union joined the G20 nations early this year to help African countries realise the 2063 Agenda of improving economic co-operation, debt sustainability, inflation stability and global financial and economic resilience.

Commenting on some priority areas the AU wanted to achieve within the shortest possible time, Ambassador Muchanga said it intended to re-structure Africa’s indebtedness to multi-lateral financial institutions, end poverty and hunger, curb illicit financial flow and illegal gold smuggling from Africa.

“Africa loses $80 billion annually through illicit financial inflows,” he noted.

 Ambassador also added that the AU was making efforts to operationalise Africa’s first-ever Credit Rating Agency and Capital Market which would give favourable ratings whenever any Member State is contracting loans from the global capital market.

Therefore, he said, the AU was training capital experts to build their capacity to work at the Credit Rating Agency and the Pan African Stock Exchange Market.

He underscored the need for African countries to have credible economic statistics that would enable them to leverage them for proper projection.

Ambassador Muchanga also announced that plans were far advanced for the establishment of African Investment Platform to remove barriers to the continent’s investment drive.

For Africa to have a stronger voice at the G20, Muchanga said it was imperative for the continent to deepen its economic integration.

He said the AU was making frantic efforts to reverse the long-held negative global perception that “Africa is a risky nation to invest in”.

He called for urgent reforms of global financial architecture so that every African nation would be rated favourable whenever any Member State is sourcing for loan.

Source: GNA

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