TENDAIISHE NYAMUKUNDA /TANATSWA KANDENGA
African economies, Zimbabwe included, have plunged into a financial crisis as a result of severe headwinds, finance ministers have said.
They spoke at the on-going session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which kicked off yesterday in the resort town of Victoria Falls.
Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube said:“The hungry world cannot be fed until and unless there is a balance in growth of resources, technology and population. It is unfortunate that Africa is not leveraging its resources including land. As the continent has around 127m hectares of potentially irrigable land of which only around 13% of this land is currently being used for irrigation.”
He added:”We have vast water bodies to irrigate our rich soils, all we need is investment in advanced irrigation technology and enough funding to climate-proof green economies comes with a cost and we need to finance this transition with support of international community and promoting investment in renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy with the support of the international community and promoting investment in renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy.
“It is high time we join hands as a continent and strengthen our existing regional trading blocs, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA), to promote the free movement of goods and services within Africa.”
Antonio Pedro, the Deputy Executive Secretary -Programs Support for United he world has drastically collapsed into economic fragility, climate change, conflicts, and mistrust, according to Nations Economic Commissions for Africa, all of which have a negative impact on Africa’s economies..
“Since our last Conference of Ministers, the world has fallen deeper into economic fragility, climate change, conflict, and distrust. Sadly, Africa has not been spared from these global trends, “Pedro said.
He added :”As most of you know, the continent faces disproportionate burdens and risks arising from climate change-related events and patterns. These include prolonged droughts, devastating floods, and out-of-season storms all of which cause massive humanitarian crises and deepen our economic vulnerabilities.”
Pedro said as the countries continues to fight to reform global systems, they should find solutions to the problems being faced in the economy.
“The issues we face today are particularly acute because the global financial system is inadequate and has completely failed Africa, “Pedro said.
Pedro also mentioned that nations can change their economies by becoming resource-efficient, low-carbon, and inclusive economies.
“We have, therefore, a unique opportunity to actively transform our countries by transitioning into inclusive, low carbon, and resource-efficient economies. In practice, this can be achieved by combining environmental commitments with climate action – socio-economic commitments with poverty eradication and reducing inequalities. And we must break away from being exporters of raw materials,” Pedro said .
He added:”To transform our agricultural and food systems at scale, we must prioritize the development of regional value chains by de-risking investment and fast-tracking the implementation of the AfCFTA. These measures will help to insulate the continent from global food security shocks.”
Pedro said that there is need to promote energy access and affordability . “Secondly, we need to enhance energy access and affordability – Less than 2% of global clean energy investments flow to Africa.”
