The head of the African Development Bank is urging the continent’s leaders to reduce their dependency on foreign aid and explore other sources of development finance.
African leaders should develop policy agendas that reduce aid dependency, said AfDB President Donald Kaberuka at a regional meeting on aid effectiveness held Nov. 4-5 in Tunisia.
“There is an appetite for Africa,” Kaberuka said while urging African countries to consider turning to international financial markets and utilizing the untapped potential of domestic capital markets.
He added that while foreign aid remains very important to Africa, the region’s development should be driven by strong economic growth led by the private sector. This requires effective governments that are able to raise their own resources to finance development needs, Kaberuka explained.
“I believe that it is time to shift the debate from the mechanics of aid delivery to the broader development challenges we will face in the coming years,” Kaberuka said. “Aid is only a means to an end. Indeed, if aid is truly effective, it will progressively put itself out of business. Effective aid should therefore be designed with this in mind – to strengthen, not displace, domestic energy and capacity; and to build up, not replace, alternative sources of development finance.”
