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RESETTING PRIORITIES:
WHAT KIND OF IMF DOES AFRICA NEED?
Bringing African perspectives to IMF Reform
Debates
Sponsored by
Debt Relief International
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Global Economic Governance Programme, University
of Oxford
New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Friday, May 16, 2008
Maputo, Mozambique
Please note Change of Venue
,
To the Hotel VIP, Maputo
Avenida 25 de Setembro, nº 692,
Maputo, Moçambique.
With financial support from Oxfam International,
Centre for International Governance Innovation, The Ford Foundation, and
Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
The purpose of
this meeting is to gather information regarding policymakers' perspectives on
IMF reform and the best methods to accomplish monetary cooperation.
To date, the debate about
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Reform has been shaped largely by
conversations within and among OECD countries and orthodox or mainstream
economists. This meeting in Maputo, Mozambique would provide an opportunity to consider
future global systemic needs that a reformed IMF should be prepared to address.
This meeting is
being organized by the
Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI), a Canadian based
think-tank and research centre, the Global Economic Governance Programme at the
University of Oxford, Debt Relief International, and New Rules for Global
Finance Coalition, at
the VIP Hotel in Maputo, Mozambique on May 16, 2008. The meeting will bring together
senior officials and scholars from African countries, along with a very select
few other invitees, to analyze and discuss regional perspectives on global
monetary cooperation. The meeting is immediately following the 2008 Annual
Meeting of the African Development Bank.
A culminating meeting with representatives from
each of the regional meetings will take place at CIGI headquarters in Waterloo,
Canada in July 2008, and we will present our findings to advisors to US
Presidential Candidates and to the IMF Executive Board at the Fall 2008 meetings
in Washington, DC. This is an opportunity for the “customers” of the Fund to
articulate their needs and perspectives on national, regional and global
monetary policy, and the global institution mandated to promote these ends.
Background Reading Materials:
Proposal
Summary: Bringing Balance to the IMF Reform Debate. New Rules for Global
Finance Coalition.
An Evaluation
of The IMF and Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa. Independent Evaluation Office of
the IMF.
Executive Summary
Global Imbalances and the
Implications for Africa by Louis Kasekende
Africa’s External Constraints:
What Developed Countries Should Do by
Matthew Martin
Sovereign Wealth Funds: A developing
Country Perspective. Stephany Griffith-Jones and José Antonio Ocampo
A
counter-cyclical framework for a development-friendly international financial
architecture. José Antonio Ocampo and Stephany Griffith-Jones
Meeting Agenda:
9h00 Welcome
§
Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance
9h15 Keynote addresses: Framing the Issues
§
Luisa Diogo, Prime Minister, Mozambique
§
Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank
10h00 The Context for the Meeting
§
Lessons/priorities from other regions - Ngaire Woods, University
of Oxford
§
Key issues for Africa - Matthew Martin, Debt Relief International
10h30
Tour de Table (participants' priorities for the agenda)
What is each participant’s top priority? What have the previous speakers not
mentioned that should be on the agenda?
10h45
Coffee break
11h00-12h00
The Role of Regional Cooperation: Policy Coordination and Financing
What can Africa do for itself to enhance regional cooperation rather than
relying on the IMF ? Among the options are pooling reserves, establish regional
monetary funds, more actively catalyze other external finance, analyse its own
debt sustainability, replace conditionality with regional policy convergence
targets, set its own standards and regulations, and provide intra-regional
technical advice, research and capacity-building TA ? Which of these are already
under way or feasible over the medium-term ?
§
Eloge Houessou, Director of Economic Policy, UEMOA Commission
§
Lucien Bembamba, BCEAO Board Member and Deputy Minister of Economy
and Finance, Burkina Faso
§
Cyrus Rustomjee, Managing Director, Centre for Economic Training
in Africa
12h00-13h00
The Role of the IMF in Systemic and Financing Issues
What role should the IMF play in global systemic crises, and how can it
improve its fulfillment of this role? Are the IMF’s financing facilities
adequate in their purposes, scale and concessionality ?What should be the Fund’s
role in catalyzing other finance for development (aid, other official and
private flows, tax revenue, domestic savings) through its signaling role ? What
should the Fund do to help countries to keep their debts sustainable ?
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Lamine Ali Zeine, Minister of Economy and Finance, Niger
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Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning,
Ghana
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Charles Mutasa, Executive Director, AFRODAD
13h00-14h00
Lunch
14h00-15h00
The Role of the IMF: Policy Support (Conditionality and Advice)
Is IMF conditionality sufficiently streamlined or still too intrusive ? Does
it provide enough policy space through alternative choices and scenarios, and
macroeconomic flexibility, for countries to achieve their national development
goals ? Is enough attention paid to the growth and poverty impact of conditions
and programmes ? What are the advantages and disadvantages of PSIs ? How useful
is the Fund’s technical advice on policy issues when it is NOT expressed as
conditions?
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Caleb Fundanga, Governor, Bank of Zambia
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Abderrahmane Vezaz, Minister of Economy and Finance, Mauritania
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James Musoni, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda
15h00-16h00 The Role of the IMF and Global Public Goods (Standards,
Regulations, Knowledge/Research, Training/TA ?)
What is the Fund’s record of success as a neutral agent setting and
implementing global financial standards, implementing regulations, collecting
data and providing quality research which is relevant to Africa’s needs ?Does
IMF technical assistance and training build lasting country capacity
successfully ? Is there a potential conflict of interest in having so many roles
(eg standard-setting and TA leading to conditionality) ?How should the Fund’s
role as provider of global public goods be changed or improved?
§
Njuguna Ndung’u, Governor, Central Bank of Kenya
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William Lyakurwa, Executive Director, AERC
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Charles Soludo, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
16h00
Tour de Table (participants’ priorities for going forward)
What are each participant’s 3 top priorities for action and implementation in
the future?
16h30
Closing Remarks and Way Forward
§
Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance
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