Policy Discussions and Recommendations

After robust and engaging discussions, including contributions from the floor, Augustin Fosu, Director of ESPD, summarized the policy recommendations from the Workshop. The main recommendations are:

• Aim to develop and adopt a continental domestic mobilization strategy;
• Aim to create an African Monetary Fund, a continental investment bank, and a continental capital market;
• Adopt a Continental Banking Charter;
• The Legal and Regulatory Infrastructure should be better developed whilst at the same time addressing the macroeconomic and institutional factors;
• There is urgent need for pension reforms and releasing of lock-up funds;
• There should be transparency in laws and regulations and they should be tightened and seriously enforced.
• Harmonization of laws and regulations across countries in a region are essential for regional integration;
• Transaction costs should be taken into account in developing resource mobilization strategies;
• Central Bank independence is critical and should be rigorously applied throughout the continent;
• Essential to establishing a strong and pro-active system of monitoring the financial system as a whole;
• Developing Africa's debt markets is critical to the financial system;
• Remittances should be given more attention as a policy option. The appropriate institutional structures should be strengthened to enable smooth and better flow of remittances; and
• Once we are able to define ‘the economically active poor', they should be the main focus of attention in policies designed to assist the poor.

These conclusions were taken during the last session of the ECA-sponsored Workshop on Financial Systems and Mobilization of Resources in Africa, held from 1 to 3 November 2004, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

The meeting was chaired by Augustin Fosu, Director of ESPD. Lead discussants were Mthuli Ncube, Chairman of Selwyn Capital of Johannesburg, Simon Rutega, CEO of Uganda Securities Exchange, Una O. Osili of the Department of Economics of Indiana University and Godswill E. Ukpabio, Director of Development Finance of the Central Bank of Nigeria.