Parliamentarians spotlight challenges facing Africa
| Author | Sabina Bhatia |
| Position | IMF External Relations Department |
| Pages | 100 |
Page 100
More than 200 parliamentarians from some 100 countries gathered in Cape Town at the annual conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) on March 15-17 to talk about their role in promoting development and helping their countries make progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A key topic was Africa-and on this parliamentarians had a lively exchange with IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Donald Kaberuka, and South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. This was the first time that the PNoWB annual conference was held outside Europe.
By bringing together the heads of international financial institutions and the Group of 20 (South Africa currently holds the chair of the G-20) in the Cape Town gathering, PNoWB cast a spotlight on the continent-and on the respective roles of multilateral organizations, donors, governments, and parliamentarians in helping boost growth in Africa and improve the lives of its people.
De Rato said that current growth rates in Africa- although high by historic standards-are not sufficient to have a decisive effect on poverty and help Africa attain the MDG of halving poverty by 2015.
Countries need to accelerate growth-through more trade, more private sector development, more effective use of public resources, and a deepening of financial sectors-de Rato noted. Parliamentarians have a key role to play in these areas, he said, because "there is no substitute for homegrown policies and homegrown decisions."
Delivering the keynote address, Manuel said African governments need to continue to manage public resources effectively to enable spending for development purposes. Manuel also stressed that "global governance-the roles and accountability of our multilateral institutions-must play a key role in achieving the economic and social outcomes associated with sustained economic growth and good policies."
Wolfowitz noted that Africa had not seen the promised increase in aid since most of the aid in recent years had gone to debt relief and to three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. Both Wolfowitz and Kaberuka...
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