Cabo Verde´s Deputy Prime Minister urges Africans to contribute more to Africa´s development and not depend on foreign funds. Speaking about the importance of the African Economic Conference that will take place in Sal Island, Cabo Verde, from December 2nd to 4th, under the theme “ Financing the Development of Africa´s post-COVID-19 development”, the Cape Verdean government official said that African countries must reinforce the endogenous resources mobilization and the taxes collection.
The 2021 edition of the African Economic Conference jointly organized by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Programme, having as a central theme “ Financing Africa´s post-COVD-19 Development”, will debate how the pandemic exacerbated the pressure on Africa´s development financing challenges by making public finances more strained, debt unsustainable, reducting official development assistance and retracting foreign direct investment. And it becomes urgent to answer the following question: what are the new sources of funding for the continent? A question that participants at the African Economic Conference, which will take place on the Cape Verdean island of Sal, from 2nd to 4th December, will try to answer. According to the Cape Verdean government, African countries must strengthen the mobilization of their endogenous resources, that is, Africa must, primarily, finance its own development, encouraging the contribution of each African to the continent's development process, by charging more taxes, for example. This idea is defended by Cape Verde's Deputy Minister and Minister of Finance, Olavo Correia, who claims to have found that the level of tax collection in Africa, due to the wealth created, is very low. “ We have the potential to increase the level of tax collection, which will make the African continent more credible, and, above all, will create more stability in Africa to attract more private investment in all African countries”, underlines the African government official. Olavo Correia, claims that Africans must also fight illicit funds, funds that leave the African continent for European, American or Asian countries and then return to the continent at very high costs. Thus, the Cape Verdean government attaches enormous importance to the theme chosen by the organizers of this edition of the African Economic Conference. “We have to hold this debate, learn to mobilize our endogenous resources, participate more in our own country development process, gain this citizen awareness, knowing that we can only demand if we contribute”, says Correia, adding that “the African continent should not live at the mercy of public aid, at the mercy of international funds that come from third countries and at the mercy of foreign investments”.
For the cape Verdean government archipelago located at the Atlantic Ocean, near Senegal, it is a privilege to host the African Economic Conference and thus have the opportunity, in partnership with the United Nations and the African Development Bank, to place this issue on the agenda this year. “This is the right time to discuss this topic, Cape Verde is also the right country to host this important conference and the island of Sal is also the right island”, concludes Olavo Correia. During the event several sub-themes will be discussed: Financing is a Development Priority for Africa, Reimagining Development Financing, the Role of Institutions and Development Partners, The Financing of Long-Term Development Trajectory for Developing Countries, Integrating National Financing Framework, and others. Several African and UN experts and rulers are expected at the event, like Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Capverdean Prime Minister and President, Ministers of Finance of Senegal and Kenya and others.