On Thursday, August 16, 2018, the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) with support from Download File">Global Economic Governance Africa (GEGAfrica) organized a one day workshop on Africa’s Rising Debt: Implications for Development Finance. The workshop was held at Bon Stratton Hotel Asokoro, Abuja.

The main objective of the workshop was to disseminate the findings of CSEA’s study on Africa’s Rising Debt: Implications for Development Finance, as well as to receive feedback from relevant stakeholders including policy-makers, economists, academia and CSO’s. Specifically, the objectives of the event were

to:

• Illustrate the current status of debt in Africa;
• Illustrate the implications of Africa’s debt for fiscal sustainability taking into cognizance African developmental needs;
• Recommend viable debt management strategies for policymakers within Africa.

CSEA's Executive Director, Dr. Chukwuka Onyekwena who welcomed participants to the workshop explained that rising debt and sustainability issues had re-emerged in Africa. He specifically highlighted the 2017 IMF debt sustainability report which indicated that 18 African countries were in high rate debt crisis. Dr. Chukwuka noted a significant rise in debt financing, exchange rate volatility and epileptic economic growth as key drivers of Africa's rising debt.

CSEA's Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Adedeji Adeniran gave a first presentation on 'Nigeria’s Debt Profile: Sustainability Assessment and Emerging Concerns'. He stated that sovereign debt was inevitable because of issues such as tax smoothing due to exogenous shocks, imbalances in timing between inflows and outflows, spurring growth of key economic sectors and financing public sector investment. He, however, noted that persistent and unsustainable debt can create economic problems and result in economic distortions and negative growth if not effectively managed. He outlined external shocks, weak macroeconomic environment and inconsistent exchange rate as some of Nigeria's debt management and sustainability challenges.

David Nabena from Nigerian Governor's Forum gave a presentation on "Sub-national borrowing and debt management". He opined that managing revenue volatility and achieving fiscal independence has always been challenging for successive governments in Nigeria because of huge oil dependence. Mr. Nabena noted that although policy responses in the last two (2) years have targeted fiscal stability, risks have remained. This, he said, signalled a call for stronger fiscal consolidation and policy adjustments including managing public sector employment.  He also stressed the importance of implementing recommended actions of the fiscal sustainability plan on sustainable debt management. He advocated for greater spending efficiency and realistic budgeting. He also called for increased monitoring and impact evaluation, proper debt management, raising of domestic revenues and maintaining an environment of high investment and growth.

CSEA's Research Associate, Mma Amara Ekeruche gave the final presentation on an "Overview of African Debt and Government Responses". She noted that debt sustainability in Africa is emerging as a concern because of rise in the size of debt, worsening debt servicing capacity and increased risks posed by the changing debt characteristics. She gave an insight into the debt drivers as well as the changing characteristics of Africa's debt. The rationale behind debt was to invest in projects that have the capacity to generate revenue to service the debt in the long term. However, there has been a general poor allocation to capital projects with some countries like South Africa allocating less than 5%. She noted poor cost-risk analysis, institutional challenges and data-related inefficiencies as some of the challenges African governments have been faced with in their debt management strategies.

Policy Recommendations

Participants at the workshop which include representatives from the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, the Academia, Research Institutes, Civil Society Organizations agreed on the following recommendations:

• International finance institutions must ensure responsible lending
• African Government must take full responsibility for their debt management strategies
• African Governments should work to reduce private sector financing
• There is need to exercise caution in private sector financing because it is more expensive than MDBs and private sector lenders are less likely to forgive debts or restructure loans.
• MDBs should engage countries to adopt root-based fiscal policies
• The terms of borrowing from other countries like China needs to be fully negotiated and understood by the borrowing government.
• Independent Debt Management Offices should be established. The DMO's responsibilities should be expanded to include monitoring utilization of debts.

Click on the download button to read the full  Communiqué.

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Within the framework of Southern Voice’s study “State of the SDGs”, the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) organised a roundtable discussion to discuss Educational Performance in Nigeria and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (“quality education). Topics included: the dimensions, drivers, and implications for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the demand for an Education and Systems Change in Nigeria.

The first presentation focused on “Exclusion in Quality Education in Nigeria: Dimensions, Drivers and Implications for SDGs”. It discussed quality education while focusing on excluded groups. The study notes that wealth seems to be a significant dimension of exclusion in quality education in Nigeria. There is also a regional dimension and a rural-urban divide. In addition, the gender aspect of exclusion in quality education in Nigeria seems vital.

The second session was on “Understanding Synergies, Trade-offs & Global Systemic Issues in Meeting SDG4 in Nigeria”. The study aims to explore the linkages between the quality education goal & other SDGs. It asks how pursuing other goals positively or negatively affect SDG4. There was also a discussion on global systemic issues, how they affect local efforts at meeting the quality education goal and the transmission mechanisms through which this relationship plays out.

The 3rd Session on “Demand for Education & Systems Change in Nigeria”, focused on the demand side of education, getting parents invested in their kids’ education and communities in the quality of schools. Questions explored were: How can we increase the demand for quality education by parents and communities, so that students take advantage of inputs? How does politics influence quality education, and how does demand interact with politics?

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Ahead of the 2018 BRICS Summit, The South African Institute of International Affairs with National Treasury, the Global Economic Governance Programme and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation hosted a high-level conference BRICS and Africa: Navigating Global Economic Turbulence Together.

The event featured two high-level panel of discussions. The keynote panel  reflected on the implications for African and developing countries of the changing global geo-economic context. The second panel session brought together different stakeholders from Africa to examine the achievements and challenges of the bloc specifically focusing on the BRICS’s engagement in global economic governance forums. It also addressed the question of whether the BRICS have a coherent engagement strategy with Africa and whether there is room for the BRICS to engage more closely with each other within the BRICS grouping on their bilateral African engagement strategies.

CSEA’s Executive Director, Dr. Chukwuka Onyekwena participated in the panel session on “Taking stock of the BRICS’ economic and financial cooperation and implications for Africa’s development priorities: Achievements and looking forward”.

The conference concluded with a panel discussion that considered perspectives from different BRICS countries on how to navigate the current wave of global turbulence, looking at what is next for the BRICS in its second decade. The event held on July 24, 2018 in Sandton, South Africa.

CSEA’s Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Adedeji Adeniran and Research Associate, Joseph Ishaku participated in the Peer Review Workshop for the “State of the SDGs” report organized by the Southern Voice in Negombo, Sri Lanka on July 18-20, 2018. The meeting featured six research teams– Ghana, Nigeria, Bolivia, Peru, India and Sri Lanka- the launch of their country studies to feed into the upcoming ‘Southern Voice State of the Sustainable Development Goals’ Report. The research will focus on three Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4 ‘quality education’, SDG 7 ‘affordable and clean energy’ and SDG 8 ‘decent work and economic growth’) in the Global South. The Southern Voice “State of the SDGs” initiative will provide evidence-based analysis and recommendations to improve the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a collaborative initiative, the programme will compile a broad range of perspectives that are usually missing from international debates. CSEA’s research will focus on “Educational Performance in Nigeria: The Dimensions, Drivers, and Implication for SDGs”(SDG 4). The Southern Voice is a network of 50 thinks tanks from across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It serves as a platform for the Global South to promote evidence-based dialogue on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its impact on the South

CSEA joined other participants at the  Regional Dissemination Conference of results from Phase II of the Research Project on Tobacco Taxation in West Africa tagged  “Tax Solutions for Optimal Reduction of Smoking in West Africa”. The conference was organized by the Consortium for Economic and Social Research (CRES) and funded by Canada's International Development Research Center (IDRC). It provided a platform for participants including key decision makers working on the formulation and implementation of tobacco taxation policies as well as international participants to discuss and propose resolutions to put into practice the ECOWAS Regional Directive for a significant reduction of tobacco consumption in West Africa. Dr. Chukwuka Onyekwena and Precious Akanonu participated in this event which held 10 - 11 July 2018, Dakar, Senegal