Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has called on African countries to reduce overreliance on foreign aid.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mudavadi said Africa should work on putting in place the necessary infrastructure and implement reforms that will increase exports and shares in global trade.
He said all national financial institutions must be empowered and strengthened to allow them channel funding more effectively to sustainable investments.
“We must empower our local financial institutions. This will require new governance structures and enhanced capacities, at the national, regional, and continental levels,” Mudavadi said.
The Prime CS spoke during the launch of the 2023 edition of Africa’s development dynamics report under the African Union Commission’s 6th edition of the specialized technical committee on finance, monetary affairs, economic planning, and integration, in Nairobi.
Mudavadi noted that it is time African countries take concrete actions to overcome the recent slump and unleash the wave of sustainable investments needed to achieve these ambitious goals.
For instance, he said sovereign access to cheap capital is key and the international community has to live up to its promises.
“Through the African Union, we need to continue to press for a reallocation of IMF Special Drawing Rights, the same as we continue pressing for a seat at the G20. This is especially to pressure meaningful acknowledgment of African countries’ vulnerability to Climate Change and our importance in carbon mitigation,” he said.
“Africa must counter negative risk perceptions by both foreign and African investors. We should encourage and enable risk assessments that are unbiased, thus making available risk mitigation strategies unknown to investors.”
Mudavadi added that African leaders and her people must engage in a candid conversation on how to navigate the global economic crises, as a result of pandemics, security threats, conflicts and climate change.
