Preamble
Having met in Accra, Ghana for the 2019 Africa Caucus Meeting from July 31, 2019 to August 2, hosted by Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance of Ghana and Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of Bank of Ghana, and chaired by Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta, Chairman of the African Caucus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG);
We, African Governors of the IMF and WBG, held discussions under the theme “Africa Beyond Aid: Enhancing Institutional Capacity and Innovative Finance for Sustainable Growth”. We hereby declare;
Enhancing Human Capacity and Skills Development to Accelerate Jobs and Economic Transformation
Recognizing that Africa is endowed with a growing youthful labor force, however, the low quality of human capital characterized by the lack of relevant skills pose a major constraint to Africa’s economic transformation:
- We, African Governors commit to invest in human capacity and skills development necessary for the transformation of our economies, particularly in a rapidly advancing technological age;
- We commit to boost educational spending to meet the SDGs, particularly SDG 4, including investments in the early years and secondary education;
- We call on the IMF and WBG to scale-up their support to capacity building to national and regional institutions including assisting them to acquire international accreditation and to establish qualification and skills recognition across the continent; and
- We urge the WBG to deepen its support to African Centers of Excellence while accelerating the implementation of the Africa Human Capital Plan and the Digital Economy for Africa initiative, including strengthening capacity in generating and use of big data.
Strengthening Institutional Capacity and Public Financial Management
Mindful of the importance of enhanced institutional capacity together with PFM reforms to sustainably create fiscal space for development spending needs, we remain committed to:
- Continue working with international financial institutions as well as regional organizations to strengthen macroeconomic and fiscal frameworks and upgrade capacities at all levels to support our development objectives;
- Enhanced governance, transparency and accountability that ensures judicious use of public funds and in partnership with IMF, World Bank and other partners to strengthen institutional capacity on public investment management and assessment (PIMA) and on debt management; and
- Collaborate with IMF and WBG to develop tools that better evaluate fiscal risks of PPP projects.