African Development Fund invests more than $6 million to strengthen public finance governance in African countries

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund have approved a grant of $6.12 million to help strengthen public finance governance in low-income African countries.

The funding is for Phase 2 of the Regional Institutional Support Project in Public Finance Governance (RISPFG) which will be implemented by two pan-African institutions: the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) and the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI).

The grant, which was formally approved on 3 November 2022, will be distributed as follows: $3.90 million to support the continent’s tax administration reforms and domestic resource mobilisation efforts through support to ATAF and $2.22 million to support budget reforms and strengthen public finance management through CABRI.

This project is a follow-on to a first phase approved by the African Development Bank in 2016 and successfully closed in September 2021 with both institutions (ATAF and CABRI). The project’s overall objective is to improve domestic resource mobilisation and public financial management in recipient countries, and help strengthen their efforts towards sustainable, inclusive growth and development.

More specifically, it aims to improve African tax systems through technical capacity building, strengthening public financial management capacities and the integration of gender and climate change into taxation and public financial management. The project will also help countries build a common position and a stronger voice for the continent on regional and global platforms.

Abdoulaye Coulibaly, Director of the Governance and Public Financial Management Coordination Office at the African Development Bank, said that in addition to development results, the project also aimed to strengthen the resilience of national systems to various shocks, improve disaster preparedness and encourage the transition to low-carbon economies, through climate-smart budgeting and fiscal policies.

“The project will contribute to strengthening the actions of the Public Financial Management Academy, a virtual capacity building platform for African countries across the cycle and ecosystem of public financial management created in August 2022 by the Bank”, said Coulibaly said.

The project will help the countries of the African Development Fund who are members of the two implementing organisations. Their tax administrations as well as officials from ministries of finance will benefit from capacity building. The project will contribute to the development outcomes of the African continent and the achievement of various commitments, including financing for development, Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals. It will be implemented over a three-year period.