Addis Ababa,
where Barack Obama will travel Monday, July 27, recently hosted the UN
Conference on Financing for Development. The former Finance Minister of
Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala her vision on the development of Africa and its
solutions for more inclusive growth.
Q: The Third United Nations
Conference on Financing for Development in mid-July in Addis Ababa, ended
without strong ad. What conclusions do you draw?
If you
compare this conference on Financing for Development to previous, it was a
success on a way point. It took place before the adoption of sustainable
development goals (SDGs) in September in New York.
Last time,
it was done in the opposite direction: we have adopted targets for the
Millennium and we wondered how we would fund, making the process much more
difficult! Moreover, it has made good progress on the issue of costs. How much
will cost such as infrastructure development? The study published in late June
by experts from New Climate Economy shows that 80% of the resources required
for ODD will be on infrastructure and it will be 5 billion to 6 billion dollars
per year. The study also concluded that 50 to 80% of these funds will have to
come from domestic sources, public and private.
It is
imperative to reform tax systems to increase domestic revenue, even if the
international financial system and the private sector should also participate
in this fundraiser.
Q: This mobilization of international
finance for development can it succeed without this double contribution, public
and private?
No! One
source will absolutely not be sufficient to fund the ODD. It must be a
combination of public, private contributions and interventions of international
finance.
If there are
so many actors of multilateralism - World Bank, EBRD, African Development Bank,
etc. - Is because the international community recognizes that multilateral
banks have an important role to play. They have a dual mission. The first is to
increase their own funding: they have announced that in the next three years,
they would inject $ 400 billion. The second is to use the money to attract
thousands of billions of dollars from the private sector.
Q: Major economies emerging in
Africa, Asia, Latin America. North-South inequalities remain one of the main
challenges of financing for development?
Inequality
is still a major problem in today's world. Inequalities within countries,
between rich, poor and middle class. And inequalities between countries,
between those who are getting richer and those who are lagging behind in
development.
The goal of
SDO is really to find an answer to this critical question. If we fail to
eradicate poverty, we are not going to end situations of instability. Nigeria
has increased quite rapidly this decade, but inequalities are growing too. We
must build a better growth. This is what economists claim as Thomas Piketty or
Joseph Stiglitz. How to move towards a better, more inclusive world, do not let
anyone on the roadside.
Q: How to move precisely to this
company more "inclusive"?
By
encouraging the growth of sectors that create jobs. In Africa, people do not
want donations or even state aid. For them, the most important thing is to find
a real job.
To improve
the quality of growth, we must turn to the most promising sectors. To the
agricultural sector for example. But not subsistence farming, modern
agriculture, high value added. This is also true for the industrial sector. It
is impossible to consider economic development without wave of
industrialization. We cannot all export, it must also develop the domestic market
to create sustainable jobs.
Q: UN negotiations are based on the
principle of "common but differentiated responsibility", which
requires an extra effort from developed countries. Is this a good prism to
address these problems?
Each of us
has a responsibility. The states of the South, who have the responsibility to
find new domestic resources to finance ODD. Northern donors have a
responsibility. Many of them have promised to allocate 0.7% of their gross
national income to official development assistance (ODA) and have not honored
this promise, except the United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries. France,
in particular, must make an effort to increase its ODA level, which is
currently only 0.36%.
Q: What arguments could convince
developed countries to increase official aid?
These are
not the African countries that have asked to make such a commitment, it is not
for us to convince them to do more in terms of ADP, it is for them to respect
their promise! They must be up for several reasons.
The first is
related to climate change, which requires a global responsibility. If you do
not take the necessary steps, you will be hit by the effects of global warming.
Some countries are faced with large pollution problems. But the pollution of
air or water are not contained in one place, they cross borders. The question
also applies to health.
SOURCE: http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2015/07/24/il-faut-eradiquer-la-pauvrete-pour-mettre-fin-aux-situations-d-instabilite_4697451_3212.html
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