Development Finance International
2-4 June - Inequality and the IFIs, New York
DFI helped to facilitate a meeting in New York on the role of the IFIs (G20, UN, IMF, World Bank, OECD and FSB) in combating in-country income inequality. The meeting was co-organised by New Rules for Global Finance and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and assembled academics, representatives of the IFIs and independent analysts to examine how their mandates could be interpreted to fight inequality in an SDG context.
The meeting reached strong conclusions on key “transmission mechanisms” through which the institutions should be expected to reduce inequality. It will be a key input into a New Rules report on the IFIs and Inequality to be launched early in 2017.
1 June - Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook
The latest Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa published by the IMF reveals that despite a recent extended period of strong economic boost, many sub-Saharan African countries have borne the brunt of multiple economic shocks and are experiencing a sharp fall in growth.
This report points to the decline in commodity prices, tighter financing conditions and a severe drought in southern and eastern Africa for causing the trends currently affecting most sub-Saharan African countries. Growth fell in 2015 to its lowest level in some 15 years and is expected to slow further to 3 percent in 2016, affecting countries to varying degrees according to circumstances, and with the exception of oil importers which register a robust economic activity.
While the IMF projects that the region’s medium-term prospects remain favourable, it urges countries to adopt a policy reset to promote growth and makes recommendations to respond to the current macroeconomic challenges.
30-31 May - Debt Management Facility Stakeholders Forum, Lusaka
DRI participated in the World Bank Debt Management Facility Stakeholder Forum in Lusaka, taking part in the ICG governance meeting of the facility, and making a presentation on Debt Sustainability Status and Prospects in the Forum itself. The presentation, based on recent work for DFID and the AfDB, emphasized that an increasing number of countries have unsustainable debt burdens which are crowding out spending on the SDGs, and another round of global debt relief is on the cards.
19-27 May - MTDS Mission to Niger
DFI participated in a joint IMF/World Bank mission to Niamey aimed at assisting the Interministerial Debt Committee’s technical commission to devise a medium-term debt strategy (MTDS) for 2016-2020. Assistance was also provided in developing an annual borrowing plan in accordance with the national commitment made with the IMF.
The key conclusion was that there is a real capacity to formulate and, above all, to evaluate the implementation of the MTDS, whose results are systematically annexed to Niger’s budget bills. The MTDS was conducted in an inclusive and participatory manner and should soon be approved and validated by the Interministerial Debt Committee which is chaired by Niger’s Prime Minister.
18 May - DFI Completes Technical Assistance in DRC
Kinshasa welcomed the last mission of the technical assistance project supporting DRC in reforming its debt management laws and design a national debt strategy. Held on 4-29 April, this mission closed an extensive African Development Bank-funded programme of activities started in September 2015.
Launched with a first mission to evaluate the country’s institutional framework and agree on a work plan, the technical support stretched over 8 missions and over 8 months to produce the following results:
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