On April 20th, Development Reimagined in partnership with the University of Pretoria Centre for Human Rights organized a closed-door stakeholder event on “Innovative Approaches to Development Finance and Debt Vulnerabilities for African Countries”.
The event brought together key stakeholders in Africa’s sovereign debt and financing landscape to discuss new methodologies and approaches for development financing.
The dialogue sought to present innovative financing approaches to borrowing by African countries. The five proposed financing methods were:
- The Liquid and Sustainability Facility (LSF), presented by Mr David Escoffier, CEO of the LSF
- The Debts of Vulnerable Economies (DOVE) Fund, presented by Professor Daniel Bradlow, Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations at the University of Pretoria.
- The Brady-Bonds for Debt Restructuring, presented by Dr Ying Qian, former Asian Development Bank and the World Bank
- The Borrower’s Club, presented by Hannah Ryder, CEO of Development Reimagined, an African-led International Development Consultancy.
- The Guarantee Facility for Green and Inclusive Recovery, presented by Professor Ulrich Volz, SOAS University
Several of these proposals are highly complementary and could work in tandem at different points of the development financing cycle.
The discussions took note of the continent’s significant infrastructure financing gaps, estimated by the Africa Development Bank to be between $68 billion to $108 billion a year, alongside the major challenges brought about by COVID-19, including the persistence of vaccine inequality, and the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine War on some African countries. In all, further external financing, alongside solutions to fiscal pressures from debt repayments, is required in order to achieve the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and overall economic prosperity for the continent.
The platform offered the key stakeholders to discuss openly, and frankly, examine the challenges African countries face in financing and discuss the opportunities and challenges of the presented proposals regarding supporting the continent’s development going forward.
The meeting was simultaneously translated into 3 languages for inclusive access & discussion (English, Chinese and French) and included remarks by the chair of the discussion, Ms Malado Kaba, managing director of Falémé Conseil and former Economy and Finance Minister of the Republic of Guinea, and was closed by Professor Jiajun Xu, Assistant Professor and the Executive Deputy Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University, to remind participants of the importance of development finance in the current COVID-19 era.
The event was held under Chatham house rules.
Development Reimagined thanks all participants for taking their time to join the discussion.
May 2022
