Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, vice president, has encouraged African nations to use coordinated regional and continental strategies to deal with the current economic issues facing the world.
Such actions, according to him, would aid the continent in utilising synergies to hasten economic unification.
"Regional and economic integration will assist our nations access the internal, expanding regional markets as well as facilitate their global competitiveness," the author continued.
Speaking yesterday[June 23, 2022] at the 22nd annual general meeting (AGM) of the African Trade Insurance (ATI) Agency in Accra, the Vice-President added that in order to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the globally interconnected economy, Africa needed to play increasing roles in the global market.
Accordingly, he claimed, the ATI's intervention—a member of the African Development Bank (AfDB)—became crucial in assisting governments in maintaining growth and navigating economic crises.
African governments established the ATI in 2001 to cover the trade and investment risks faced by businesses operating on the continent. In essence, it offers surety insurance, credit insurance, and political risk coverage.
Collaboration
To hasten the establishment of the free trade area, Dr. Bawumia further advocated for tighter coordination between the ATI and the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Together, he claimed, Africa could "gain more time and mileage in lowering dependency on foreign markets and increasing value addition of our resources for our socio-economic development."
Because "we believe in its purpose of converting the continent into a major trade and investment destination," the Vice President promised the ATI that the government will continue to support it.
He said that when the ATI was established in 2002, it understood that creating a reputable insurance mechanism to lessen losses brought on by political events was the best approach to address the world financial market's assessment of Africa as a high-risk environment.
He encouraged member nations of the organisation to uphold their obligations to the ATI, saying, "It was jointly decided that governments of our member countries will be the ultimate risk-takers in the insurance system introduced by the ATI."
He said, "The ATI is African, it is for Africa, and it is a multilateral financial organisation set up to solve issues with Africa's economic operations.
financial outcomes
The ATI's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Manuel Moses, gave a summary of the organization's activities in the previous year, noting that "our financial results for 2021 reflect a sustainable year improvement in our financial indicators, despite the profound effect of the COVID-19 pandemic that impacted all businesses and countries globally."
According to him, underwriting revenues climbed by 14%, or $143 million, over the prior year. He also stated that the agency's underwriting profit increased by 11%, from $29 million to $33 million in 2021.
The CEO stated that "as of the end of December 2021, our gross exposures, which represent the absolute contract values of the insurance covers we have issued, also grew from $6.3 billion to $6.6 billion."
"We are ready to preserve our money to guarantee that our financial performance is not badly harmed," said Mr. Moses, asserting that the Russia-Ukraine conflict presented a serious threat to the ATI and businesses throughout the world.
Challenges
The worldwide pandemic, security issues, stricter global monitoring requirements, and climate-related shocks that threatened to stall the collective advancement of Africa's economic sovereignty were top on the agenda of policy makers, according to the minister of finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.