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ADB to pay special attention to economies of ‘fragile’
states
Elmina, March. 21, Ghanadot/GNA- The African Development
Bank (ADB) would soon give special attention, in the form of
support, to the economies of ‘fragile’ states of the
Regional Member Countries (RMCs) of the bank, to help
accelerate their developmental objectives.
The ADB Resident Representative in Ghana, Mr Alieu Jeng, who
gave this assurance, said the ADB “was mindful of the
special problems” of ‘fragile’ states like Sierra Leone and
Liberia, which need to receive special attention.
He was closing a five-day ‘sub-regional’ workshop on
“Enhanced Performance-Based Allocation (PBA) Framework and
Forward-Looking Debt Sustainability Analysis”, at Elmina on
Thursday.
The workshop was aimed at enhancing participants’
understanding of the ADB’s procedure for applying the PBA
guideline for a broader understanding of the features of the
system.
This would enable them to engage in high level dialogue with
ADB officials for the allocation of loans and grants.
The participants, who included some members of parliament
and representatives of Civil Society Organisations, were
from the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Mr Jeng expressed his delight about the enthusiastic manner
in which the participants dealt with the various issues at
stake, and stressed that the main objective, was to enhance
transparency and accountability in resource allocation.
He tasked them to sensitize their colleagues about the
deliberations to ensure that all stakeholders including
civil society organisations become abreast of the
guidelines.
Mr Jeng said it was the aim of the ADB to enhance its
operation on the continent and that it has so far,
established 26 offices in various parts of Africa.
The participants, had earlier in an 18-point communiqué,
called on the ADB Group to conduct frequent reviews on
fragile states with the aim of exploring ways to assist
them.
They also called for the financing needs of the RMCs to be
strongly considered, and ensure that their efforts in
achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are not
jeopardized by too much focus on macro-economic indicators
and country performance assessments.
According to them, incentives under the 20 percent grant
discount should not be deducted from the weaker countries,
but rather, donors should finance that grant reduction from
country allocations, since Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth, which is a denominator in the debt ratio, requires
additional resources to drive it.
On capacity building, the participants urged the improved
participation of RMCs, and allow them to use “own-country
debt sustainability framework”, in order to strengthen local
capacity for carrying out debt sustainability and
management.
They also noted that since Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF)
was one of the major determining factors for resource
allocation under the PBA system, RMCs should be supported to
strengthen capacity through grants.
“The ADB should make it a priority to standardize debt data
classification in RMCs for effective debt sustainability
analysis”.
It therefore tasked the ADB to sensitize and disseminate
information to RMCs on the terms and conditions of the
policy on non-concessional loans.
GNA
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