Counterpart funding slowing down projects in Africa

Ouagadougou, May 15, GNA - The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has blamed the lack of immediate counterpart funding from member countries as a major reason for the delay in the release of approved funding for projects on the continent.

Briefing the media ahead of the Bank's annual meetings in Burkina Faso on Monday, Dr Donald Kaberuka, President of the Bank, said the long periods it took parliaments of member countries to ratify agreements before loans were released by the Bank Group as another factor in the delay in approvals.

He said some countries were also in arrears and needed to pay back their loans to enable others not only to benefit, but also to ensure that the Bank was in a good position to continue its mandate. Dr Kaberuka noted that the Meetings were taking place at a time when African economies were not where they should be. "But I must say that for the first time in many years, African economies are growing ahead of population growth not only in countries with oil and mineral wealth but also in non-oil and non-mineral producing countries."

He said in countries with resources, growth had hit in excess of eight per cent while those without those resources were making about 4.5 per cent per annum.

Dr Kaberuka said it was important for these economies to look beyond these figures and make greater growths in line with the targets within the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as targets set by NEPAD and the African Union for sustained growth.

"It is instructive to know that higher growth figures must be achieved and sustained over a much longer period so as to see the eventual results."

Dr Kaberuka said African states averaged growth rates of five percent and this must be celebrated and more work done to improve on it. He cautioned the new generation oil producing countries not to leave out their traditional sectors, a mistake made by the first generation of oil producers.

"It is the Bank's expectation that old and new sectors of economic development are developed consistently to manage a high performing economy. They should manage their new found wealth well and deepen economic reforms especially in the field of creating a good investment climate."

Dr Kaberuka called for help for net oil importing countries, which were battling with high import bills, saying the Bank would work with such governments to structure a way out.

He said he was happy with the decline in the number of conflicts and the several efforts being made to eliminate conflict and conflict situations across the continent and described the African Peer Review Mechanism as a positive step.

Dr Kaberuka appealed for an end to abuse of office in different parts of Africa stressing that the continent had never been in better times with such positive outlook to bolster development.

He also praised the relationship between the Bank Group and the UN Economic Commission for Africa stressing that it would create the synergy for effective development on the continent.

Dr Kaberuka said the Bank continued to accelerate its decentralization strategy to establish a network of 25 field offices. He said a total of about 2.26 billion dollars had been mobilized by December last year to finance debt relief for countries that had reached interim and completion points of HIPC, adding that out of this 1.68 billion dollars had been delivered.