African Ministers Call for Key Reforms

Oct 14 , 2023

African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development requested the World Bank to focus on specific priorities of African countries, including regional integration, infrastructure development, and structural transformation during the 2023 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. They underscored the urgency of increasing access to liquidity and adequate loan and subsidy resources for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust to ensure a minimum lending capacity. Officials contemplated that additional funds could be restored through pledges from donor countries, by terminating the administrative cost reimbursement or selling parts of the IMF's gold reserves in the medium term. The need to expand the use of guarantees to reduce borrowing costs for developing countries was discussed with measures such as the development of joint guarantee products supported by all World Bank Group institutions. Ministers emphasised that vulnerabilities beyond a country's income status should be considered to determine eligibility for concessional financing.