Press Release: Maputo Joint Declaration Africa Rising: A Shared Vision For Sustained Growth And Prosperity

IMF News, May 30, 2014

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Press Release: Maputo Joint Declaration Africa Rising: A Shared Vision For Sustained Growth And Prosperity

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Bibliographic details

• Published: May 30, 2014

Context and meeting details

• Press Release No. 14/251
• Date: May 30, 2014
• Contact: IMF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT, Media Relations
  • E-mail: media@imf.org
  • Phone: 202-623-7100
• Meeting held in Maputo on May 29-30, 2014, with Finance Ministers and Governors from sub-Saharan Africa and the IMF.

Summary of appraisal

• Participants took stock of sub-Saharan Africa’s achievements over the past two decades, increased resilience to shocks, and economic policy challenges for sustaining growth and development.
• Noted drivers of strong economic performance: skillful macroeconomic policymaking, stronger institutions, increased aid, and higher investment in both human and physical capital.
• Identified ongoing challenges: uneven distribution of growth benefits, wide infrastructure gaps, and job creation falling short of expectations.
• Emphasized opportunity from structural transformation and a young, dynamic population to accelerate poverty reduction, inclusive growth, and job creation.
• Agreed to further strengthen the partnership between the Fund and its African membership, with policy dialogue and capacity building reflecting an ambitious agenda.

Fostering inclusive growth and structural transformation

• Core objectives:
  • Uphold macroeconomic stability with policy actions designed to foster structural transformation and sustain strong and inclusive growth.
  • Create an enabling environment for a vibrant private sector to generate jobs and sustain growth.
  • Continue public investment in growth-enhancing infrastructure, notably in transport and energy, while being mindful of debt sustainability considerations.
  • Build capacity and institutions, invest in human capital development, and strengthen public sector efficiency.
• Specific insights and policy guidance encouraged by Ministers and Governors:
  • Design policies so that a surge in growth also spurs structural transformation; improve productivity in agriculture and engage in higher productivity activities such as industry and services.
  • Align macroeconomic policies with the dual objective of creating jobs and delivering social and economic services.
  • Address infrastructure gaps through innovative financing solutions, including at the regional level, with significant private sector participation; ensure high-quality public investment management, transparent treatment of risks, and vigilance on fiscal and debt sustainability.
  • Promote deeper and broader financial sectors to support small and medium-size enterprises; expand financial intermediation and improve access to financial services, leveraging advances in information and communication technology such as mobile banking where applicable.
  • Harness natural resource opportunities with transparent fiscal frameworks and prudent resource management; welcome IMF support on fiscal frameworks for extractive industries and IMF advocacy on base erosion and profit shifting.
• Institutional and regional cooperation:
  • Call for close cooperation between the Fund and member countries and systematic engagement with multilateral institutions, development partners and regional bodies.
  • Invite the Fund to further support regional integration efforts across Africa, recognizing contributions with WAEMU and CEMAC currency unions.

Overcoming fragility

• Recognized that conflict and violence remain significant barriers to development in some countries and regions.
• Key lessons and positions:
  • Political economy considerations are paramount in fragile situations; the IMF’s engagement with fragile states contributes to rebuilding resilient institutions and administrative capacity.
  • Economic policies must be tailored to country-specific circumstances and require flexibility; weak institutional capacity or post-conflict recovery means policy implementation takes more time and IMF advice and practices should reflect this.
  • Expressed appreciation for the Fund’s new Rapid Credit Facility as serving well to assist countries emerging from conflict; called on the Fund to safeguard the core characteristic of the facility to provide quick and unconditional financial support in times of need.
  • Underlined the overriding importance of peace and security for sustained economic and human development.

Financing Africa’s development

• Framing:
  • Sub-Saharan Africa faces extensive financing needs to secure sustainable and inclusive growth while safeguarding gains in debt sustainability; infrastructure gaps and demographics add to social investment needs.
• Commitments and requests:
  • Reaffirmed commitment to strengthen domestic resource mobilization; welcomed IMF support for capacity building in tax policy and public financial management to create fiscal space for inclusive growth.
  • Emphasized continued importance of access to IMF concessional resources for countries with protracted balance of payments problems; welcomed efforts to place availability of concessional resources under the PRGT on a permanent self-sustaining basis and urged the Fund to ensure access could increase in line with countries’ needs.
  • Urged the Fund to continue refining its lending toolkit for Africa and provide increased financing from its general resources for sub-Saharan Africa, where warranted.
  • Stressed that frontier economies should have access to insurance-type instruments, such as the Precautionary Liquidity Line, on equal footing with other Fund members.
  • Called on the Fund to move forward expeditiously with reform of its debt limits policy to make it more flexible and tailored to individual country circumstances; policy should accommodate financing for critical investment while maintaining debt sustainability.
  • Agreed that building capacity in national debt management offices is a priority to ensure optimal use of debt-financing and alignment with long-term fiscal and macroeconomic stability.
  • Expressed the hope that agreement on the debt limits reform could be reached before the 2014 Annual Meetings.
• Global context:
  • Noted the region has weathered, but not been immune to, fallout from the global financial crisis; welcomed Fund work on spillovers and asked the Fund to continue monitoring global impacts and advocate for the region in global forums on cross-border taxation and financing issues.
  • Called for strengthening the global financial architecture: improved surveillance of systemic risk; greater international coordination of macro-prudential responses to systemic risk; cross-border arrangements for financial regulation; and additional funding for liquidity support and external adjustment, particularly in low-income African countries.

Building institutions and human capital

• Affirmed the critical role of strong institutions and continuous human capital development for economic and social development.
• Welcomed close collaboration with the Fund in training and technical assistance, expansion of Regional Technical Assistance Centers, and the forthcoming official launch of the Africa Training Institute.
• Called on the IMF to step up efforts to draw lessons from successful experiences within and outside Africa and to:
  • Continue close cooperation to invest in human capital and capacity building.
  • Provide adequate country-level technical assistance.
  • Facilitate peer-to-peer learning.
  • Create an online community of practice.

Follow-up and commitments

• Ministers, Governors, and the IMF Managing Director agreed to follow up during the Annual and Spring Meetings to take stock of progress towards the objectives and commitments reflected in the Maputo Joint Declaration.

Press release content from IMF website, May 30, 2014.

References

• Republic of Mozambique and the IMF
• Guinea-Bissau and the IMF
• Republic of Congo and the IMF
• Republic of Equatorial Guinea and the IMF
• Benin and the IMF
• Burkina Faso and the IMF
• Cameroon and the IMF
• Central African Republic and the IMF
• Chad and the IMF
• Côte d'Ivoire and the IMF
• Gabon and the IMF
• Mali and the IMF
• Niger and the IMF
• Senegal and the IMF
• Togo and the IMF
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