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AFRICA: Finance ministers state a continent''s demands

WASHINGTON, 14 November (IRIN) - Well before the global economic
uncertainties that have followed the 11 September attacks on the US,
African countries were carrying out painstaking economic reform
programmes, and they still needed the support of international financial
institutions and donors to ensure they got the rewards, the continent's
finance ministers stated on Tuesday.

"We are concerned that the policy reforms that have been carried out in
Africa, and for which we are starting to see some sign of progress, might
be endangered by what's going to happen in the next months and years,"
said Ali Gamatie, Niger's finance minister, at a press conference in
Washington DC, USA. "This is certainly not the time for the Bretton Woods
institutions [the World Bank and IMF] and the donor community to drop out
Africa from their radar screen."

The African delegates spent Tuesday meeting senior IMF and World Bank
representatives, to whom they presented demands, including equitable
access to global markets, faster and deeper debt relief, and Africa's need
for capital investment, among other issues.

Altogether, a total of 23 countries have reached the decision point on
qualification for debt relief under the global Highly Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) initiative, including 19 from Africa, said Gerald
Ssendaula, the Ugandan Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic
Development, who is also head of the African Bureau to the IMF and World
Bank - of which Uganda holds the presidency until 2003.

"Of the 19, [only] two have reached the completion point: Uganda and
Mozambique... Our plea was to speed up debt relief - that is, to close the
gap of the period between the decision and the completion point,"
Ssendaula said. African countries also believed "that the process should
be accompanied with grants or loans on concessional terms" so that they
did not fall into further debt in the future, he added.

The African finance ministers also pressed for equitable access to
international markets, which often have barriers to entry that favour
developed nations.

"Africans are realising that they cannot grow just depending on aid; that
while aid is important, the question of market access is even more
pivotal. And so, in our discussions... the importance of having market
access was very well underscored," said Jean Baptiste Compaore, the
finance minister of Burkina Faso.

"The problem is that in most of the markets where Africa sells its
products, developed world agricultural products are subsidised," Ssendaula
said. "Our concern is that our commodities, which are mainly primary
commodities, agricultural produce, are not getting a fair share of the
market."

The African Bureau to the IMF and World Bank also raised its desire to
have more Africans recruited by and take up responsible positions in the
Bank; additional funding for further research into HIV/AIDS drugs, and to
see the price of essential drugs lowered; and for more foreign direct
investment in Africa.

With the IMF, the African ministers presented issues related to countries'
quota of shares in the Fund and to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programs
(PRSPs) it promotes for developing countries, Ssendaula said.

Africa would "definitely welcome more grants and aid" rather than debt
relief and loans alone, and that loans should be on concessional terms -
with a rate of interest below 1 percent, a grace period of 10 years and
repayment over 40 years, he said.

"I don't think that there is any other continent where there has been
greater reform than we have experienced in Africa in the last five years -
but, at the same time, we are watching a decline in the flow of aid," said
Gamatie.

"There is an issue of being credible from the international community in
fulfilling the commitment when they say you should have good governance,
you should fight corruption, have sound, good economic policy, then you
will qualify for HIPC. But once you've done that, then sometimes the
response is not there," he said.

"We are going to be more coordinated in Africa to try to press further for
these demands. We shall be repeating them until we get a solution,"
Ssendaula added.

[ENDS]

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[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001