African countries must not settle for less when negotiating with the IMF – Afreximbank President
The President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah has urged African leaders to negotiate for better conditions when engaging the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He stated that it is imperative for African countries to benefit from their membership status with the IMF by demanding for a better treatment when going for a support from the fund.
Speaking at the launch of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions in Accra, Prof. Oramah stressed the need for African countries to work collectively in addressing challenges affecting the financial sector of various economies on the continent.
“It’s either you go there or quit. Because we are members of the IMF. The only problem is that when they go, they must make sure that they treat us the way they treat the European or Asian countries. I think that’s what we have to demand”, he said.
“African countries must demand a change in the quota. We cannot have a continent with a 17 percent population of the world and have a five percent quota of an institution that have to bring stability in the micro-economies of these countries. They must know that African countries are members and not an outsiders. We shouldn’t expect anybody to dictate for us”, he stressed.
Giving some recommendations, Professor Oramah said there is the need for a collaborative approach for Africa countries to establish its own credit rating agency.
According to him, the establishment of a rating agency on the continent is long overdue.
Providing some more insights, he said an African Credit Rating Agency is an important step towards intra-continental integration that would enable African governments to access capital and integrate the continent with global financial markets.
“It is institutions like ours that can force the IMF to recognize an African rating agency. When we go to China and Japan, they tell us to go to their own agencies to be rated but for us when we always want to issue papers we have to be rated by Fitch and whatever. We are just doing ourselves ill so charity begins at home so we need to do it” he said.
The aim of the Alliance of African Multilateral Institutions is to collaborate and exchange information on progressive joint strategies and frameworks to address Africa’s development needs.
It will further promote and defend unified positions on issues of common interest in the international fora including advocating for Africa’s interests on global finance issues.