High-Level Capacity Development Talk on Building Capacity for Africa’s Economic Empowerment

The African continent faces acute macroeconomic challenges that include limited access to financing (the “big funding squeeze”), higher debt-servicing costs, limited tax collection, and the necessity to adapt to transformational challenges such as climate change and digitalization. In this context, building expertise and capabilities through regional cooperation in Africa and global partnerships is critical to enable countries to tackle these complex and pressing issues, and reach their full potential.

As IMF platforms of cooperation and knowledge hubs of expertise managed jointly with member countries and development partners, the Africa Training Institute, regional technical assistance centers in Africa (AFRITACs), and regional centers in the MENA region (Middle East Center for Economics and Finance in Kuwait and Middle East Technical Assistance Center in Lebanon) play an important role in empowering policymakers in Africa, helping the continent’s young people become the engine of the global economy, handling compound shocks, promoting regional integration, increasing Africa’s role in the world economy, and addressing fragmentation.