16-18 April 2019. Marrakech, Morocco The Fifth (2019) session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD 5)

1. Fifth session of the Africa Regional Forum on
Sustainable Development
Strengthening the Means of
Implementation and
Partnership for SD
Thierry Amoussougbo, UNIDEP
16 - 18 April 2019
Marrakech, Morocco
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Fifth session of the Africa Regional
Forum on Sustainable Development
Empowering people and ensuring
inclusiveness and equality

2. Means of implementation & Partnership OUTLINE UNECA.ORG
GOAL 17 OUTLINE
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 FINANCE
 TECHNOLOGY & CAPACITY
 TRADE
 KEY MESSAGES
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3. Means of implementation & Partnership FINANCE UNECA.ORG
GOAL 17 | FINANCE 3
 Large financing needs
 Annual investment needs: $600-638 bn; ≈1/3 of total GDP
 Infrastructure financing gap stands at between $50 billion and $93 billion
 Government revenue-to-GDP ratios low; some improvements
 Government revenue-to-GDP ratio ≈24.7% (2000-2017);
 Tax-to-GDP ratio ↑ from ≈12% (2000) to 16% (2014)  scope for more
tax revenue generation
 Foreign Direct Investment can finance growth, … investment climate matters.
 FDI to Africa declined from ≈$57 bn <$42 bn (2015-2017)
 FDI inflows projected to ↑ by 20% in 2018 to $50 bn
 Remittances an important source of forex earnings
 Reached ≈$77 bn in 2017 (≈4.3% of GDP)
 Capital markets - a platform for mobilizing long-term capital - through both debt
and equity markets
 But Africa’s capital markets still nascent; account for < 1% of global stock
market capitalization
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4. Means of implementation & Partnership TECHNOLOGY & CAPACITY UNECA.ORG
GOAL 17 | TECHNOLOGY and CAPACITY
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 Africa desperately need STI to address its major SDG challenges
 STI , has been a foundation for socio-economic and environment
transformation
 Harness/promote : research, innovation, investment infrastructure, critical
mass of scientist, digitalization,
 R&D<1% Researchers = 2.2% of the World
 Mobile technology : 444 million inhabitants; employed 3 million
individuals, generated $110 billion and contributed $14 billion to public
funding in sub-Saharan Africa in 2017
 Capacity building and systemic issues
 Most of African countries have developed financing and capacity
development strategies
 Many South-South capacity-building initiatives were implemented in 2018.
 In terms of monitoring and benchmarking the SDG many countries in
Africa lack the capacity to collect, manage and report on SDG
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5. Means of implementation & Partnership TRADE UNECA.ORG
GOAL 17 | TRADE
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 International Trade
 International trade constitutes an engine for inclusive economic growth
and poverty reduction,
 However today, the multilateral trading system is under threat
 Proliferation of trade-restrictive actions  uncertainty multilateral trading
environment
 Moving towards an operational AfCFTA
 World’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade
Organization (WTO)
 Market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.2
trillion
 AfCFTA and African Trade Observatory will significantly enhance
achievement of SDGs and structural transformation in Africa
 Countries need to ratify the Agreement Establishing the African
Continental Free Trade Area and open their borders to ease the movement
of people and goods.
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6. Means of implementation & Partnership Key Messages UNECA.ORG
GOAL 17 | Key Messages 6
 Finance
 Implement integrated resource mobilization, budgeting and development
planning processes and decentralized public financial management
 Strengthening capital markets promote enabling env for private sector
investments
 Improving mobilization of non-tax revenue; harness digitalisation
opportunities to widen the tax base, reduce revenue collection costs and
improve tax administration mechanisms
 Technology, capacity, systemic issues
 Promote enabling environment to mainstreaming STI in SDGs, support
infrastructure development, capacity building, research, effective national
and regional innovation systems
 Strengthen capacity of national statistic systems to ensure quality, timely
and up-to-date data on SDGs
 Strong government institutions and processes inclusive of all vulnerable
groups are essential for enhancing the quantity and quality of the means
of implementation.
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7. Means of implementation & Partnership Key Messages UNECA.ORG
GOAL 17 | Key Messages 7
 Trade
 Enable the ratification of AfCFTA by all African countries
 Promote the development of AfCFTA related national strategies and plans
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8. THANK YOU!
Follow the conversation: #ARFSD2019
More: www.uneca.org/arfsd2019
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