Resetting Priorities: What Kind of IMF Does Africa Need?
Date: Friday, May 16, 2008
Venue: Hotel VIP, Maputo, Avenida 25 de Setembro, nº 692, Maputo, Moçambique.
Sponsored By: Debt Relief International, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Global Economic Governance Programme, University of Oxford and New Rules for Global Finance
Financial Support: Oxfam International, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Meeting Agenda
Download Meeting Program9h00 Welcome
Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance
9h15Keynote addresses: Framing the Issues
Luisa Diogo, Prime Minister, Mozambique
Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank
10h00 - The Context for the Meeting
Ngaire Woods, University of Oxford: Lessons/priorities from other regions
Matthew Martin, Debt Relief International: Key issues for Africa
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 ?
Lamine Ali Zeine, Minister of Economy and Finance, Niger
Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ghana
Charles Mutasa, Executive Director, AFRODAD [Presentation]
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?
Caleb Fundanga, Governor, Bank of Zambia
Abderrahmane Vezaz, Minister of Economy and Finance, Mauritania
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
William Lyakurwa, Executive Director, AERC
Charles Soludo, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
16h00 - Tour de Table
What are each participant’s three top priorities for action and implementation in the future?
16h30 - Closing Remarks and Way Forward
Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance
Related Links
Follow Us
