President Bola Tinubu has vowed to work with the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to combat illicit financial flows.
In an address at the African Caucus meeting in Abuja, yesterday, the president, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, also said that poverty and inequalities had widened the gap between Africa and other regions of the world, a situation, he said, required urgent actions.
“We need enhanced international tax cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and ensure that multinationals contribute fairly to our economies. We must also foster global economic cooperation to tackle shared challenges and leverage opportunities.
“However, we must also acknowledge the need to take responsibility for our own development by undertaking the difficult structural and fiscal reforms required to boost long-term growth and enable reinvestment into our economies through infrastructure and effective social spending.”
The president stressed the need for a robust human capital development on the continent with a view to borrowing a leaf from India, a very big player in the global outsourcing sector, earning as high as over $100 billion from it.
AfCFTA: African on a new era threshold -Cardoso
In his address, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, noted that with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) the continent was in an era of a new threshold and that all countries in the region must work together to raise intra-African trade to the advantage of all its peoples.
His words, “The continent now stands on the threshold of a new era in African economic cooperation through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the largest such agreement in the world by both area and number of countries.
“According to data from the World Trade Organization, intra-African trade accounts for an estimated 13.0 percent of the continent’s total trade, compared to 60.0 percent in Europe and 40.0 percent in North America.
“This indicates that significant efforts are needed to build a robust, economically diversified, and prosperous Africa.
“As monetary authorities, we have the responsibility to formulate policies that enhance trade among countries on the continent. We can achieve this by fostering a financial landscape that encourages collaborative research and development (R&D) to support our industries and generate economic wealth for our growing populations.
“Decisions on currency convertibility, cross border transactions, payment systems, cross border movements of our peoples, goods, and services, as well as financial policy, will be instrumental to determining the success of the AFCTA.”
Also addressing the delegates consisting of African Ministers of Finance, Governors of Central Banks and representatives of global financial institutions, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, urged African leaders to position the region to take advantage of its youthful population to grow its Gross Domestic fProduct (GDP).
He added that countries on the continent must trade more among themselves and speak with one voice, in order to create a greater synergy that would bring about the desired transformation, development and growth.
The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala , in a message said that trade among Africans had a crucial role to play in Africa’s development, adding, “Tariffs and non-tariff barriers against trade must be eliminated.”
She said that re-globalisation had become very important and that the African Caucus should be a bridge between global financial bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, on the one hand and African governments, on the other.
