Sovereign debt in Africa is over $1 trillion, causing a severe fiscal crisis, with more than 1 in 3 countries in or at high risk of debt distress, Executive Secretary of the UNECA, Claver Gatete has said.
Addressing the 44th SADC Summit in Zimbabwean capital, Harare on the theme of promoting innovation to unlock opportunities for sustained economic growth and development towards an industrialized SADC, Gatete said the high debt is happening when long-term concessional finance, official development assistance and foreign direct investments are declining.
Gatete said that is why Africa needs to work on an African position on the reform of the global financial architecture so that Africa’s needs are taken into account at the Fourth Financing for Development Conference that will take place next year, in Spain.
“We have no choice but to look inward for homegrown solutions including domestic resource mobilization and innovative financing for climate to sustain our development,” he said in a statement over the weekend.
He said SADC region is home to most of the world’s gold, copper, cobalt, lithium, chromium, graphite, platinum and possesses significant livestock and agricultural endowments.
Gatete said regional agglomeration remains a ticket to sustainable industrialization because fragmented approaches will not generate the jobs we need, nor will it reduce poverty and inequality.
“There is no reason why Africa should import food to the tune of $120 billion per year when SADC can be Africa’s breadbasket,” he said.
“We are using our study on the DRC-Zambia electric-battery initiative as a proof of concept that we can and should drive mineral beneficiation, and we are working on a road map to translate this into a reality that will allow expansion to other minerals, such as diamond,” he said.
He said with the right investments, Africa can scale-up innovations and not just in the agricultural sector, but in health, education, finance and transport, amongst others.
MG/as/APA