Committee tasks IMF on sub-Saharan Africa

THE International Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has called on the Fund to focus on financial sector development in sub-Saharan Africa.Governor, National Bank of Ethiopia, Mr. Teklewold Atnafu, made the call at the 23rd meeting of the Committee on Sunday in Washington.Although sub-Saharan Africa had limited integration with global financial system and insignificant spillovers, this is changing rapidly. We, in this regard, want to draw attention to the importance of focusing on financial sector developments in sub-Saharan Africa, he said.According to him, this will provide opportunities for strengthening interconnectedness in the financial sector, adding that without strong regulatory institution, financial stability would be compromised.Commenting on the low income countries, he said that the committee was encouraged by the IMFs recent vulnerability exercises for such countries.He added that the fund should be more responsive to the financial needs of the low income countries.The IMF must stand ready to support these efforts through its policy support and financing instruments.Atnafu further urged the fund to sharpen its role in low income countries well beyond its pre-crisis interventions by further adapting its toolkit to the new financing needs.He called for the scaling up of resources in fund lending arrangement with the countries, enhancement of access levels and the extension of an interest-free moratorium for another three years.NAN reports that Nigeria, the Gambian, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique among others are members of the committee. 
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