Secretary-General of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), Wamkele Mene is concerned that Countries such as Ghana and many others across the continent which are grappling with sovereign debt crisis may not get increased funding or development Assistance from the Bretton Woods as was the case in the past.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is currently holding its spring meeting where Global Economic recovery is key on the agenda for participating actors.
Ghana’s hopes of regaining thrust has been hinged on the hopes of securing a bailout from the IMF amounting to the tune of three billion Dollars. The country is currently facing the worst economic meltdown owing to what the government describes as largely driven by external shocks from the global pandemic- COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War.
However, assurance by President Akufo-Addo that the bailout programme will take off in the first quarter of the year has failed resulting in the country defaulting on settling its creditors. Ghana’s situation has been likened to the crisis in Zambia with many more African countries also showing signs of resorting to aid for a quick fix.
But Secretary-General of Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Wamkele Mene has bemoaned the situation adding that Africa is not getting increased capital inflows. When asked by JoyNews’ Blessed Sogah at the AfFCFTA Business forum press briefing in Cape Town south Africa, Saturday, April 15, 2023 about the options available for countries facing this economic downturn, Wamkele Mene noted that;
“What is clear from the statements that are coming out of Washington (IMF spring meetings) from Monday and during the week is that the direction of global Capital is going the wrong way, Global capital is not coming South. It is remaining North”.
He added that “the sovereign debt crisis that we are experiencing in Africa, its clear from the statements that have come out that the posture is not sympathetic to the Sovereign debt crisis in Africa. So the question then is what do we do? In the short term for us is to have access to development finance but I have just said it is looking increasingly unlikely, In fact what we are hearing is that the orientation for providing development finance must move from development finance and fighting poverty to climate change. That’s what we are hearing, very clearly, that if you focus on climate change all your problems will be solved”.
Wamkele Mene added that in his own personal opinion, “we (Africa) are not going to see increased volume development support coming from the institutions mandated. Then the question is what do you as the African continent? You build resilience to make sure that when the next crisis hits that you have capacity to deal with that crisis. So Intra-African trade is the best tool that we have for resilience. Intra African trade is what is within our reach as Africans to mitigate the risk of reduced support for development financing which I think is unfortunate but it looks increasingly that this is going to happen”.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum – the first one to be held in person. Convened by the AfCFTA Secretariat in Cape Town, South Africa under the patronage of His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa, The President of the Republic of South Africa, the conference is scheduled to take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 16 – 18 April 2023.
A statement released by AfCFTA secretariat notes the key objectives of the event are to create awareness of the current trade and investment opportunities in AfCFTA among Africa’s business community; connect businesses to funding opportunities for AfCFTA value chains; establish a private sector engagement platform for continued consultations on private sector needs in the implementation of the AfCFTA; and to promote a private sector-friendly environment, especially for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) led by Women and Youth, to unlock more accessible and affordable trade finance opportunities
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