Opening Address at the Meeting of the Committee of Experts Thirty-eighth Session of the Commission/Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development By Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Abuja, Nigeria, 11 May 2005 Chairperson, Good morning. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the city of Abuja and the Federal Capital Territory and to our country, Nigeria. To those of you for whom this is a repeat visit to our city, I say thanks for coming back and to those for whom this is a first visit I say please make time to discover the beauty and enjoy the abundant pleasures of our city. It is a great honour for me to open this meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Conference of Ministers of the 2005 annual Session of the ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development here in Abuja. I would like to extend my appreciation to the Executive Secretary of ECA, our dear friend, K.Y. Amoako for making this meeting possible. I would like also to thank the outgoing Chairman of the Bureau of Experts and members of the Bureau for their leadership in preparing us for this Conference. Permit me to also thank my staff and members of the inter-ministerial committee on the ADB/ECA meetings for the good work that they have done in putting this together. The choice of the theme of our Conference, Achieving the MDGs in Africa is a bold one especially against the backdrop of recent reports that Africa is unlikely to meet the MDGs by 2015 if the current trend continues. It is bold because it conveys the hope that we know what needs to be done to achieve the MDGs. I recognize that this choice must have been made within the context of preparations of the UN MDG review summit in September 2005 and in advance of several important events on the international development calendar - the UN General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development in June, followed immediately by the Annual Session of ECOSOC, the G8 Summit in July, and the WTO Ministerial in December. I have no doubt that today's discussion will contribute in many ways to the upcoming review by the General Assembly. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished colleagues, Nearly five years after the Millennium Declaration was adopted, it is disappointing (though not surprising) to observe that progress towards meeting the agreed development goals is slow and uneven worldwide. Disturbing to us are reports - the report of the Commission for Africa and the Jeffrey Sachs the Millennium Project Report come readily to mind - that aver that at current trends, the MDGs will largely not be met by 2015 in our region. These reports generally note that significant progress has been achieved in some parts of the world, notably East Asia, in reducing extreme poverty and hunger through sustained rapid growth in incomes. The slow progress that our continent is making towards the MDGs is, I submit, an indictment of all of us - African policy makers and experts. We cannot take comfort from suggestions in these same reports that more rapid progress is possible within the remaining 10 years to 2015 if bold decisions are taken now. What this means is that we still will not achieve the results even if we were to take bold decisions. This is depressing. There is broad consensus (more so in the international community than in Africa) on what needs to be done to reach the MDGs. What is required now is the political will to act and make available the additional resources needed to overcome the shortfall that countries face in achieving the MDGs. The Monterrey Consensus provides the framework for taking actions to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. The Monterrey Consensus articulated a new partnership between developing and developed countries and their institutional partners and sets out strategies and actions to accelerate progress. On the part of developing countries, there is a need to continue to deepen structural reforms already underway and to continue to strengthen governance, combat corruption and put in place the policies and investments to drive economic growth and mobilize domestic resources needed to fund national development strategies. Most countries in Africa have made significant progress in reforming their economies for growth. As a result, macroeconomic stability and higher levels of economic growth have been achieved. Many African countries have experienced faster growth, single-digit inflation, improved governance and increased political stability. The Executive Secretary ECA referred to these achievements that have been made. In Nigeria we have realized the need to show progress and leadership on these issues given our weight and presence in Africa. Our far-reaching reform programme is yielding results. Last year we brought year-on-year inflation from 23% in December 2003 to 9.5% in December 2004, FDP growth was 6% against a 5% target. Non-oil growth was 7.4%. Reserves tripled from $7 billion to nearly $21 billion. This was not just due to oil price but to fiscal prudence as well as our exchange rate has been stable and we have been fighting corruption. In the last two months unprecedented steps have been taken on corruption, etc. Despite all this, we need to do more to broaden and deepen reform to accelerate growth rates to around 7% per annum to achieve poverty reduction and improve the climate for broad-based, private sector-led growth including scaling up investment in infrastructure, healthcare, education and other basic services. Developed countries, on their part, need to complement these efforts with commitments to deliver on additional financial aid, through opening their domestic markets to developing country exports and providing wider and deeper debt relief. More aid, which is predictable, timely, long-term and more effective, is also required. Dear Experts, The Issues Note prepared for your meeting lays out clearly what the issues for consideration are. It focuses in particular on the need to increase job creation and expand employment opportunities. In addition, it draws attention to the potential contribution to a more fruitful aid relationship of the mutual review of development effectiveness. Furthermore, the Issues Notes advances the generally held view that a doubling of ODA flows from their 2001 levels would be the minimum required to achieve the MDGs by 2015. Additional financing will be required to allow African countries achieve debt sustainability and the stable growth required to support increases in per capita incomes. While the international community has taken important steps to increase their ODA towards the goal of 0.7% of GNI, much more needs to be done, and it needs to be done more quickly. These increased resources must be effectively utilized, and in this regard, there is need for strengthened efforts to implement the Declaration of the Rome High-level Forum on Harmonization as well as the commitments of the Paris Declaration to improve the quality and timeliness of aid including strengthening country capacity to manage for results. Further, the cost of delivering aid on a business-as-usual basis is not acceptable. It is therefore important to come up with mechanisms for front loading ODA and ensuring predictability in aid flows. It is in this context that we welcome the progress made in exploring the feasibility of the proposed new financing mechanisms, especially the International Finance Facility (IFF) put forward by the UK Government. I look forward very much to your views and recommendations on a number of these important issues. Ladies and Gentlemen: I recognize that the behaviour and conduct of our partners, their fidelity to commitments entered into are consequential for our progress towards the MDGs. However, our own conduct and behaviour is even more consequential. It is our responsibility to grow our economies and improve the life-chances of our people. It is therefore very important that you, our experts, go beyond the usual litany of issues examined at meetings such as this. We need to be honest with ourselves. I will therefore recommend that you, in addition to the issues identified in the Issues Notes, also explore and debate the following issues. First, to what extent is our behaviour a fetter on our rate of progress towards the MDGs? Consider the issue of ownership of the MDGs and our Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Are we not making progress because there is limited constituency for PRSPS and their strategies to achieve MDGs in our countries? Have we been clear about what the MDGs mean for us or are we just following along? Second, you need to examine the extent to which the structure of national budgets constrains progress towards the MDGs. Are national budgets sufficiently results-based and MDG-compliant? In Nigeria, we are struggling and working hard to make our budget compliant. Third, how is progress towards the MDGs actually measured? Do you as African experts agree with the metrics and/or the methodology for measuring progress or have you abdicated responsibility for thinking about our problems and left that to others? Would a different methodology or set of metrics show a different result? We really cannot afford to continue to sit as onlookers in the arena of debates that determine how we perceive ourselves and how the outside world perceives us. Fourth, to what extent is the debt burden hobbling our progress? It is now clear that the enhanced highly indebted poor countries initiative has not quite delivered on its promise. Why? Why is it that countries have not achieved debt sustainability even after receiving debt relief? To me, the default response would be "there is some thing wrong with the debt sustainability formula". This then leads us to a set of corollary issues such as the appropriateness of the definition of debt sustainability. Here you need to evaluate the definition of sustainability advanced by Secretary General Koffi Annan as "that level debt of debt that is consistent with the achievement of MDGs" against the definition used by the Bretton Woods institutions and the Paris Club. The point I am trying to make here is that definitions are not inconsequential determinants of the quantum of resources available to countries. There are also other areas where immediate actions on our part would make a major contribution towards meeting the MDGs that I would hope you will bring under analytical scrutiny. For example, how much more resources would we release for MDG-consistent expenditures if we were to be successful in stemming corruption and improving the efficiency of our public institutions? Dear Experts, You have a substantial agenda before you and I trust that your deliberations will be fruitful. I hope that the outcome of your deliberations will be a bold and innovative set of recommendations for advancing our continent's progress towards the MDGs. I urge you to be daringly creative as no one ever knows ex ante the ideas that would have the most impact. The Ministers expect no less from you and our people also expect no less from you. I wish you a successful meeting and do look forward to, along with my Minister-colleagues, receiving your report. |
