Highlights

2. The two-day Meeting will be formally opened in Marrakech, on July 5th, 2022, by the Leadership of the Kingdom of Morocco. H.E. Dr. Donald Kaberuka, AU High Representative for Financing African Union Peace Fund, will deliver the keynote address. The Meeting will be in-person and is expected to attract many country delegates across Africa and abroad, including from the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs).

3. The theme for this year's Caucus Meeting is "Towards a Resilient Africa," which sets the stage for deliberations on the need for the continent to accelerate growth prospects while building resilience against shocks. Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Ukrainian crisis have reinforced the imperative of building resilience to shocks. The pandemic has amplified preexisting development challenges in Africa, including youth unemployment, poverty, the digital divide, energy, and food insecurity, rising debt vulnerabilities, and climate crisis. However, there has been limited fiscal space and financial support to address these challenges.

4. This year's Meeting is taking place in an environment of high uncertainty, as the Ukrainian crisis exacerbates the fallout from the pandemic. In this context, the Governors will deliberate on mobilizing financing to address the mounting challenges and halt the loss of development gains. They will also discuss options to strengthen the global financial architecture, with implications to address Africa's development financing needs.

5. The Meeting is organized around three sub-themes, namely:

  i. Repositioning Debt as a Catalyst for Economic Recovery and  Sustainable Growth;

  ii. Regional Integration focusing on energy, digitalization, and youth entrepreneurship; and

  iii. Climate Crisis and Food Insecurity.

Speakers include African Governors and resource persons from development finance institutions - the former President of African Development Bank, the World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Director of the IMF African Department, IFC Regional Director for North Africa, Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance & Knowledge Management at African Development Bank, and the United Nations Under-Secretary and Executive Director for the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

About the African Caucus

6. The African Caucus was established in 1963 to strengthen the voice of African Governors to the BWIs on issues of mutual interest for Africa. Membership in the Caucus is open to 54 African countries that are members of the African Union and of the IMF and WBG.

7. The countries are represented by their respective Ministers of Finance and Governors of Central Bank, or other officials designated as such by their Governors. They are called African Governors for the IMF and the WBG.

8. During the Caucus Meeting, African Governors usually build consensus on the key challenges affecting the continent that require the BWIs' attention and communicate the same in a Memorandum to the Heads of the BWIs at the Annual Meetings. Once delivered, the leadership of the BWIs respond by outlining how their respective institutions plan to address these challenges, including ongoing efforts in this direction. The first such Memorandum dates to September 11, 1964.