Africa
THE Governor of the Central Bank of South Sudan, James Alic Garang, says equitable financing will accelerate economic growth of countries in the continent of Africa.
Garage said this on Saturday in Abuja on the sidelines of the ongoing 2024 African Caucus Meeting in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the African Caucus was established in 1963 to strengthen the voice of African Governors in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Group.
Membership to the caucus is open to all African countries that are members of the IMF and the World Bank Group.
Currently, all the 54 countries on the continent are members.
The theme of this year’s meeting is : “Facilitating Intra-African Trade: Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Growth in Africa.’
The three-day meeting aims at addressing intra-African trade as a crucial catalyst for sustainable economic growth and to prepare input for the IMF and the annual meetings of the World Bank.
According to Garang, equitable financing is one of the issues that would be tackled in the memorandum and also in the declaration of the meeting.
He said that there was the need to reform the global financial architecture to reduce the cost of borrowing, enhance access to finance, and also harmonise policies to ensure that the voices of Africa are heard.
“We have to ensure that Africa sits at the table where decisions around global financial architecture are made.
“There are also issues concerning access to energy, an area where the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank are taking lead roles to support the continent,” he said.
According to him, discussions are mainly centred on improving trade among African countries.
He said that the Africa central bank governors were also concerned about the level of youth unemployment in the continent.
“The discussions are centred around the challenges with intra-Africa trade, and around huge opportunities within the continent that we need to tap into.
“There is to be a session in the memorandum that focuses on improving youth employment and opportunities across the board.
“The various discussions in this meeting have agreed that Africa is on a good path, but there are things to be done to realise our full potential,” Garang said.
He said that the meeting also presented an opportunity for South Sudan to showcase areas in which foreign companies and financial institutions can invest.(NAN)
Photo Caption: Governor of the Central Bank of South Sudan, James Alic Garang
3rd August, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: Central Bank of South Sudan James Alic Garang
