CBE Deputy Governor Urges Facilitating Private Sector’s Access To Emerging Markets
The 58th Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the 49th Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund kicked off on Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh.
During one of the panel discussions held on that day, the CBE Deputy Governor, Rami Aboul Naga highlighted that “the private sector has always found its way, eventually to emerging markets”. However, the investment ecosystem hasn’t been encouraging enough for the private sector to invest even during prosperity. He attributed this challenging investment ecosystem to the issue of identification. This is in addition to other issues related to the economic meltdown, unsustainable debt, and other regulatory and political issues.
He also stated that the changing policies might not provide investors with visibility, which requires consistency with the fiscal and monetary policies to attract the right investor. He also described the issues related to macroeconomic fundamentals such as exchange rate volatility as a Gordian knot that could also dampen the appetite of the private sector.
He also referred to the obstacles related to the obsolescence of technology that could add to the enormity of the situation.
On the other hand, he stressed the necessity of making the environment as attractive as possible, highlighting that the involvement of developmental finance and concessional finance is quite critical to enticing the private sector to inject more investments.
He also referred to the role of grants and technical assistance in alleviating a lot of funding pressure and the risk factor that is associated with the price to drive more sustainable projects and a more informed assessment of the projects. He also stressed the importance of a well-rounded approach and correctly showcasing the existing projects to harness a true investment-friendly environment.
