President Nana Akufo-Addo has expressed concern about the complex processes needed to access funds from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
He observed that this forces African countries to look for other sources of funding.
Addressing the 18th OECD International Forum on Africa in France on Wednesday, the President said “it is public knowledge that the processes for accessing funds within member countries of the OECD have become very cumbersome. African countries also shy away because it takes too long and it is too frustrating to deal with them so we turn to other sources.”
President Akufo-Addo suggested that “a clear solution is to simplify and expedite the OECD processes, while maintaining transparency.”
“Currently, the processes for developing and financing infrastructural projects are developed by OECD institutions to reflect your concerns, with little inputs from African countries to reflect our concerns and aspirations,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo also advocated for the establishment of a joint Africa-OECD Technical Committee to design procedures for processing infrastructural projects in Africa, including for public-private projects (PPPs).
“My Government would like to initiate the discussion on constituting the joint Technical Committee in consultation with others, such as the African Union (AU) Commission, the OECD Development Centre, the ADB, the World Bank, the Compact with Africa (CWA), and the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) in Accra, which has been helping to coordinate peer-learning among the CWA countries,” the President said.
He urged the organisation to set its sights on building a prosperous Africa with equal opportunity for all.
With Africa’s population expected to increase to 2 billion people in 20 years, President Akufo-Addo said there were mutual benefits to be had for Africa and OECD member countries.
“…there are tremendous opportunities for shared prosperity for OECD and African countries in Africa’s rapid economic growth and transformation.”
This story was first published by Citi Newsroom