I find this conference as a unique opportunity to share experiences on best practices and policies, on how international public finance can contribute to accelerating progress in development. We will make specific contributions to the financing for development (FfD) process and attempt to influence decision-makers ahead of the Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development in July 2015.
Global growth remains in low gear and downside risks persist of both public and private sectors. Advanced economies are recovering at a slow pace, mostly hindered by constraints on both the demand and the supply sides. Emerging markets are still in the lead, although they are slowing down from elevated levels in recent years definitely in some instances, to avoid bubbles and alter the direction for development. A key source of risk to growth and financial stability in several of these economies is the unwinding or tapering of the unconventional monetary policies in advanced economies – even as their use is put in gear in some of these economies.
In the face of these global developments, some developing countries, especially African countries, are seeing a paradigm shift. They are focusing on improving their infrastructure and managing their natural resource wealth to achieve broad based inclusive growth. These economies are also seeking to strengthen the implementation of structural reforms in order to maintain annual average growth rates around the 5 percent that they have achieved over the past few years. The process for inclusive growth involves simultaneous improvements in the MDG goals, especially the quest to improve human capital through health, education training to significantly reduce poverty in the medium-term.