African governments commended for prudent policies
Mr Daniel Rose, Chairman of BGI, LLC has said Africa’s stable governance and prudent macroeconomic policies are creating favourable environments for infrastructure development, rapid urbanization and consumer growth.
He said if the future was to reduce Africa’s heartbreaking social and economic inequality and remove the grinding poverty of the poorest, several important steps should be taken.
Mr Rose was contributing to a panel discussions organised by the Yale Club of Ghana, the Association of Yale Alumni and the Afro-American Cultural Centre on the topic: “ Community Impact and Social Responsibility” in Accra.
He said the most important step in securing the future was to ensure a fairer sharing of the benefits of the national mineral wealth.
He said the major threat Africa faces was the so-called “resource curse” of new oil and gas discoveries by which improperly handled revenues has led to rapacious corruption.
“To date, no African country has been able to apply its oil and gas revenue fairly for the public benefit,” he said.
He said African public opinion must demand vastly more mineral rights, transparency and accountability and an end to “trade mispricing”.
He said African central bank reserves, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds should be invested in cost-effective infrastructure improvements that offer investors a competitive return while helping society.
Mr Rose said Africa’s mineral resources, physical, financial and human capital should be coordinated and applied for the public good.
He said the issue of corruption must be faced frankly and discussed openly, while transparency and accountability in financial and legal systems and in government operations would have a positive impact on the continent’s development.
“Trust and confidence in the ground rules were important factors in sustainable development and Africa’s true potential can be achieved if Africans called for it,” he noted.
Source: GNA