President William Ruto of Kenya has cautioned his African counterparts against expensive borrowing and promising what they cannot deliver.
“Can we finance what we commit and can we deliver what we finance?” Ruto asked on Thursday during a COMESA Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe.
He has challenged African leaders to take greater responsibility for funding their own development.
Ruto argues that African countries must find innovative ways to fund their priorities instead of relying heavily on expensive borrowing.
“Every programme we agree upon must be matched by the resources to deliver it. Otherwise, our communiqués will promise what our budgets cannot pay for,” Ruto said.
According to Ruto, Africa holds more than U$4 trillion in domestic financial assets, including money held by central banks, insurance companies and capital markets, yet many development projects continue to struggle to secure funding.
Ruto has also called for increased investment in African financial institutions, saying the continent should make better use of its own capital to support infrastructure, trade and industrialisation.
Ruto urged foreign partners to invest in African industries and process raw materials locally, saying the continent wanted partnerships based on mutual benefit rather than dependency.
“We do not want to be treated special; we want to be treated equal,” he said.
Ruto says Africa must move away from a model in which it exports raw materials, imports finished products and borrows at high costs to bridge the gap.
“For too long, our engagement with the world has followed one script: we export raw materials, we import finished goods, and we borrow at a premium to make the difference,” he said.
“That script, I dare say, has run its course.”
