ADDIS ABABA, March 25 (Reuter) - African officials opened a
preparatory meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on
Tuesday ahead of a ministers' gathering to focus on financial
reforms in the world's poorest continent.
The three-day gathering by experts from finance ministries
and central banks will try to agree major discussion points for
finance ministers and central bank governors meeting next week.
Kingsely Amoako, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA), urged the experts to analyse the
legal and regulatory frameworks and financial infrastructure
necessary for capital markets.
Amoako said financial sector reforms in many countries in
Africa remained relatively weak and called for a focus on issues
such as determining an optimal sustainable exchange rate regime
consistent with broader macroeconomic goals.
He listed other priorities as devising the institutional and
legal framework for foreign exchange markets and determining the
role of central banks in liberalising foreign exchange markets
and market-determined exchange rates.
``A properly functioning financial sector is necessary for
sustained growth and is a prerequisite for Africa to reduce its
heavy dependency on external aid flows,'' he said.
Capacity building in African capital markets and making them
attractive were two of the main issues the ministers of finance
were expected to discuss during their three-day gathering.
Conference documents said that although Africa was a long
way from securing direct foreign investment any time soon, such
as Latin America and South East Asia had, a number of investment
funds had shown enough interest in African stock markets.
``African investment fund launched by Morgan Stanley in
February 1994 began with the modest aim of raising $60 million
but ended up with nearly $300 million,'' one document said.
The conference next week will also be attended by
representatives of major donor agencies, organisers said.
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