Press Release No. 15/551

Press Release: The IMF’s AFRITAC West 2 to Ramp up Capacity Development Activities

December 4, 2015

The IMF’s regional technical assistance center AFRITAC West 2 held its Third Steering Committee meeting in Ghana on Wednesday, December 2, 2015.

In his opening remarks, the Chair of the Steering Committee and Minister of Finance of Ghana Mr. Seth Terkper noted that despite the Ebola outbreak and its effect on the Center’s operations, the AFRITAC West 2’s capacity building efforts in the region are having a positive impact in member countries. He cited success stories of the Center’s capacity building interventions, for instance the Bank of Ghana’s strengthening of its inflation targeting framework and noted that in the Center’s largest member country, Nigeria, AFRITAC West 2 have been closely engaged with the Kaduna State Government in improving its public financial management. The Minister also underscored the post-Addis agenda and the importance of revenue mobilization for member countries, and welcomed the Center’s technical assistance on improving VAT compliance. Lastly, the Minister thanked the Center’s key development partners (the European Union, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, the African Development Bank, China, and the European Investment Bank) for their contributions and close collaboration with AFRITAC West 2, including their involvement in the Center’s governance.

The Center Coordinator, Mr. Lamin Leigh, noted that despite being a relatively new center, AFRITAC West 2 is beginning to produce tangible results. The macroeconomic challenges facing the region continue to define the nature of AFW2’s capacity building work program. Member countries face fiscal challenges against the backdrop of falling commodity revenues, and sluggish global growth and export demand. This calls for additional efforts to strengthen public financial management and improve domestic revenue mobilization. In the period ahead, the Center will continue to be responsive to individual member countries’ needs and delivery prompt capacity building support in its core areas of expertise.

The Steering Committee was pleased with the progress made by AFRITAC West 2 in the past six months. It called for the Center to support activities within its mandate that could foster regional integration in ECOWAS and encouraged the Center to foster more peer-to-peer learning to facilitate knowledge sharing among its members. The Steering Committee welcomed the Center’s plans for ramped up capacity development activities in Liberia and Sierra Leone as well as deeper engagement with the new administration in Nigeria. The next Steering Committee meeting will take place in late April in Banjul, The Gambia.

AFRITAC West 2 has been delivering capacity development services since January 2014 and serves Cabo Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The Center is one of five IMF regional technical centers in sub-Saharan Africa and offers capacity building services to member countries in the areas of revenue administration, public financial management, monetary operations and payment systems, financial sector supervision and regulation, and macroeconomic statistics.