Press Release No. 09/451

Press Release No. 09/451
December 10, 2009

Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Mr. Plutarchos Sakellaris, Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), signed a Letter of Understanding today to enhance cooperation in the area of capacity building in Sub-Saharan African countries. Under the agreement, the EIB will support the work of the IMF’s Regional Technical Assistance Centers in Africa (AFRITACs).

“We are very pleased to deepen and broaden the partnership between the EIB and the IMF, to the benefit of our members,” Mr. Portugal said during the signing ceremony at EIB headquarters in Luxembourg.

Under the agreement, the EIB will contribute €3 million (about US$4.5 million) over the next three years to four AFRITACs in Eastern, Western and Southern Africa which provide technical assistance and training to 36 countries in those regions. “This landmark agreement will allow the European Investment Bank contribute to the provision of technical assistance and training across Sub-Saharan Africa. These activities complement the EIB’s own operations in Africa by building capacity, supporting financial institutions and contributing to strengthening governance,” added Plutarchos Sakellaris, European Investment Bank Vice President responsible for operations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The EIB is already a contributor to the IMF’s Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC).

"This agreement builds and expands on the partnership that we have had with the EIB in support of METAC, and I look forward to an even closer dialogue between our two institutions in the future, which will provide critical synergies in line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness,” Mr. Portugal underscored.

Demand for the IMF’s technical assistance is rising in light of the current global economic and financial crisis as countries work on strengthening their institutions. To meet this rising demand as well as to better coordinate assistance delivery, the Fund is strengthening its partnerships with donors by engaging with them on a broader, longer-term, and more strategic basis. As a part of these efforts, the IMF recently opened the Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic Regional Technical Assistance Center (see Press Release No. 09/236) and intends to open three additional Regional Technical Assistance Centers (RTACs) in Central Asia, and Southern and Western Africa.

Complementing the regional perspective of the RTACs, a menu of Topical Trust Funds (TTFs) will provide a global coverage and a specialized topical scope. The IMF launched its first TTF on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism in May 2009 (see Press Release No. 09/108). The roll-out of other TTFs is planned over the next year in the areas of natural resource management, tax policy and administration, public financial management, development of sustainable debt strategies, compilation of statistics relevant to financial stability, and macroeconomic training for officials from African countries.

Useful links:

IMF Technical Assistance Factsheet:

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/tech.htm

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness:

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/41/34428351.pdf