Kigali,
Friday, 17 May, 2024
McCreadie Andias
President William Ruto has continued with his call for reforms of international financing institutions that are more fair and inclusive to the African states.
While adressing the Presidential Conversation Session at the Africa CEO Forum 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda, Ruto noted that boards of multilateral development banks need to be democratized to ensure equity in decision making power on financial management.
He said that developing countries have been long victims of unfair financial policies and approaches including higher interests which affect their ability to sustain their economies.
Ruto noted that reforms will allow for mutually benefiting agreements that allow for loan concessions and enable developing countries manage strategic and sustainable development.
“Concessional loans have many benefits: they are long-term and can easily be leveraged by the private sector to enhance those resources,” he said.
President Ruto noted there was a need to allocate resources tailored to address the challenges posed by climate change, in order to advance global climate action objectives.
The President said Africa must also prioritise value addition and stop exporting raw materials from the continent to enhance exports as a percentage of GDP.
His remarks come a few weeks after he held meeting with World Bank officials in Nairobi to adress financial reforms.
The president who is set to make a state visit in the United states late this month vowed to use the visit to advocate for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Furthermore, Ruto called for utilization of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement that will help foster the growth of African economies by allowing free and cheap flow of goods within the Africa market that will also leverage exportation abroad.
Ruto shunned corruption as one of the development killers in the continent urged African leader to fight it to the floor.