Africa can finance its own development, Janneh assures leaders

Abstract

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, has assured African leaders that, with appropriate financial policies and judicious implementation, Africa would have no reason to wait for its development financing from outside the continent. The UN official told a meeting of Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) of NEPAD in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, that the “massive pension fund holding in Africa” as well as the “huge sales of telecommunications companies and the over-subscription of government bonds floated at home” show that there are many untapped sources of domestic resources that Africa needs to look into, according to the Information and Communication Services (ICS) of ECA. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minster of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and attended by leaders of Algeria, Benin, several African leaders as well as by Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission among others.