WHAT:         Training and Graduation ceremony for the first cohort of trainees of the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa; Dissemination of Benchmark Macroeconomic Models for Effective Policy Management in Africa

WHO:         African Development Institute of the African Development Bank Group

WHEN:      11-14 Dec 2023, 09:00 to 18:00 WAT (GMT+1); Dec 15 14:00 GMT (Dissemination event)

WHERE:    Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, and online. Register here(link is external). Click here(link is external) to join the dissemination of the Benchmark Macroeconomic Models for Effective Policy Management in Africa report online.

The African Development Institute of the African Development Bank will graduate the first cohort of government officials from its Public Finance Management Academy on 14 December.

The final phase of the executive training course on "Enhancing Accountability, Transparency, and Curbing Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows in Africa" will take place from 11 to 13 December, culminating in the graduation ceremony.

The course is the sixth and final module of an 18-month structured training course on public finance management for mid to senior-level officials from ministries of finance and planning, central banks, and other public financial management institutions from all African countries. Participants are also drawn from key anti-corruption agencies, statistical offices, and others.

The Public Finance Management Academy is running the course in collaboration with experts from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other related institutions.

As part of the week’s events, African finance ministers, central bankers, and debt managers will meet on 15 December to discuss the establishment of an African Debt Management Initiative Network. This will be an opportunity for African public debt managers to help shape the agenda of the network to ensure ownership and commitment to its implementation.

The African Development Bank will also disseminate, online, its report, Benchmark Macroeconomic Models for Effective Policy Management in Africa, on 15 December from 14.00-16.00 GMT.

Lack of accountability and transparency, corruption, and illicit financial flows (IFFs) create a vicious cycle of fiscal sinking holes in Africa's public resources. As governments lose revenue to IFFs and corruption, they are forced to borrow, and the borrowed funds are in turn stolen because there are no measures to stop the outflow of public resources. These challenges are primarily the result of fundamental public governance and structural weaknesses in African economies; weak programme and project implementation capacity due to a critical skills gap and inadequate tools; and weak international cooperation efforts to curb corruption and IFFs.

In response to the challenges of IFFs, money laundering, and terrorist financing, the African Development Bank has developed several policy and strategic instruments, including the Bank's Policy on the Prevention of IFFs (2017) and the Action Plan for the Prevention of Illicit Financial Flows in Africa (2017-2021), extended to 2023), which prioritise capacity building for African countries and regional economic communities (RECs) to effectively combat IFFs.

The Bank has also developed the Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa (SEGA), which highlights the importance of supporting countries in combating illicit financial flows (IFFs) and money laundering.

Click here(link is external) to register in advance to participate in the Dec 14 closing ceremony.

Click here(link is external) to join the dissemination of the Benchmark Macroeconomic Models for Effective Policy Management in Africa report on December 15.