论著
【United Nations’ Report】Positioning African Public Development Banks for the Post COVID-19 Recovery
Abstract:
PDBs are vital partners in providing development financing to support investments in sectors that would otherwise not attract private investment. These resources are even more important during periods of economic crises such as the 2008/2009 financial crisis and the current COVID-19 pandemic which has been shrunk the fiscal space of most developing countries. Despite their challenges most notably in the areas of financial resources and capital (Calice P., 2013) Africa’s PDBs have provided some of the needed resources to mitigate the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic.
To ensure their continued contribution to the recovery process in the short to medium-term, there is need for PDBs to be recapitalized and to have more flexible mandates that allow them to finance the transformation of African economies as promoted under Afreximbank’s strategic plan to mitigate the exposure of the region to recurrent adverse commodity terms of trade shocks and global volatility. Recapitalization will also enable these PDBs to implement countercyclical measures especially in times of economic crisis like the current one.
In effect, there is need for PDBs to play a more assertive role in contributing to Africa’s COVID-19 response by providing much needed liquidity for immediate as well as longer term strategic initiatives in Africa’s energy sector and sustainable investments in green growth. Such interventions will increase energy access, improve health, and ultimately make economies more resilient to future shocks. The PDBs should also place greater emphasis on investing in digitalization and digital technologies as these would contribute significantly towards the sustaining of economic activities and job creation in areas such as e-commerce, e-health service delivery and e-learning.
Citation:
United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa. (2020). Positioning African Public Development Banks for the Post COVID-19 Recovery.
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