President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on wealthy economies to channel a portion of their Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for Africa through the African Development Bank (AfDB) to meet the development needs of African states, including food insecurity and climate change, and also finance and capitalize African public development Banks.
According to him, it is imperative to acknowledge providing the SDRs to Multilateral Development Banks will also strengthen the global financial architecture and foster greater complementarity with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The call was contained in a declaration dubbed ‘Accra Declaration’ issued after the African Development Bank Annual General Meeting in Ghana from 23rd to 27th May, 2022, signed by President Akufo-Addo and witnessed by Finance Ministers from Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria and Rwanda.
The President indicated the appeal emphasizes a decision adopted at the 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government that took place from 5-6 February 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The call, he said, had also been made in a Communique of F15 Ministers of Finance of the African Union adopted on 21st April 2022 on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington D.C., US.
“There is a need to emphasize the enormous challenges posed by the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the repercussions of the Russian war in Ukraine, and the severe disruptions to the development trajectories on the continent.”
“And also take note of the looming food crisis, rising energy prices, skyrocketing inflation eroding consumer buying power, and the prevalence of insecurity on the continent,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo welcomed the leadership of the African Development Bank Group to explore options for the strategic use of the SDRs to support Africa and stressed providing SDRs through Multilateral Development Banks has several benefits including leveraging the SDR.
The SDRs, he said, can be absorbed by the Bank Group as equity to further expand lending capacity to African countries and to provide additional capital and financing to development banks in Africa.
He urged the Governors of the African Development Bank to facilitate the amendment of the Articles that preclude the African Development Fund (ADF) from accessing the International Capital Markets to leverage its balance sheet and raise capital for the development of the continent.
He appealed to all shareholders to pursue the larger goal of the Bank Group becoming the preeminent financial institution in Africa and to agree to remain seized with the subject matters covered in the Declaration.