Panafrican News Agency

Cameroonian PM says Monetary Fund will change industrialisation tide in Africa

Yaounde, Cameroon (PANA) - The African Union should speed up the formation of the African Monetary Fund (AMF), which would mark the turning point in Africa's efforts to rapidly industrialise, Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said on Thursday.

 

Addressing a meeting of AU Ministers of Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration, Prime Minister Ngute said the aim of achieving rapid growth and industrialisation would be accelerated by rapid regional integration.

 

"We want to see emerging markets and economies in Africa. We need to have industrial production capacity which meets the needs of our people," the Cameroonian Premier told the ministerial meeting.

 

The finance ministers are meeting on Thursday after three days of work by experts drawn from various financial sectors. The ministers will draw proposals on how to raise economic growth in Africa and help their countries to industrialise.

 

 With a capital of US$23 billion, the AMF is one of the financial institutions proposed for creation by the AU. It would work like the International Monetary Fund, helping to stabilise economies in Africa.

 

Among proposals being considered at the ministerial meeting is how the continent could utilise the various capital markets in Africa to raise funds for economic growth and industrialisation initiatives. Particularly, the ministers have echoed concerns by the African leaders that efforts to raise domestic resources to foster economic development have been hampered by poor infrastructure.

 

The continent also faces a poor investment climate, high cost of trading and low investor confidence on the markets. There are proposals for consideration by the ministers on how to create an enabling environment for cross-border investment and improving the efficiency of the stock and capital markets in their countries.

 

According to the Cameroonian Premier, the rate of economic development in Africa remains low and industrialisation has partly stagnated because most countries depended  on the export of raw materials.

 

Ngute said industrialisation remained at a paltry 12% in Africa compared to 55% in the developing world. To address the challenges, the PM called for accelerated efforts to create the AMF and fast regional integration to create markets.

 

"We should take all these factors into consideration. We should begin a new page of economic integration," he said.

 

Cameroonian Finance Minister Louis Paul Mutaze said the main challenge facing the African economies was in their configuration.

 

He said there was an urgent need to redirect economic policies as well as education policies, such that graduates would be better trained to handle the needs of local industry.

 

In his opening statement to the ministerial Summit, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said the meeting provided an opportunity for government officials to brainstorm the implementation of economic policies. 

 

He said the meeting was holding against the backdrop of the signing of the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) by some 44 countries. His address was readout by AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Victor Harrison.

 

The Chairperson regretted that Africa remained vulnerable to economic shocks, including the current lower rates of worldwide growth.

 

He called on countries to tap into industrialisation based on huge resources, access to the labour market for local citizens and increase the capacity of the private sector to create jobs in high growth potential areas.

-0- PANA AO/AR 7Mar2019