COMPANY FOCUS
Infrastructure development:
key to fostering global
interconnectedness
African Regional Conference in
Botswana highlights pace of change
and opportunity across Africa
‘T
here are huge shifts in the global economy:
Africa is now one of three global trading blocks
that are as big as the West, but which are growing
10 times as fast. This dynamic is here to stay.’
Gottfried Leibbrandt, Chief Executive Officer
of SWIFT, reiterated these closing remarks at the annual SWIFT
African Regional Conference, reminding delegates that the African
continent has moved on from the stereotype of a recipient of western
aid. ‘Africa has firmly positioned itself in this new reality – the West
is no longer in charge,’ he said.
Held in Gaborone, Botswana from 21–23 May, the 2013 SWIFT
African Regional Conference attracted more than 455 delegates
from 40 countries to this three-day annual event. Key themes to
emerge were the focus on infrastructure at every level, and the
opportunities posed by boosting intra-Africa investment.
In his official opening address, the Honorable Minister Kenneth
Matambo, Minister for Finance and Development Planning for
Botswana, said, ‘Cited by The Economist in 2000 as “the hopeless
continent”, Africa has proved largely resilient in an increasingly
competitive and global economy. Far from being hopeless, African
governments are increasingly able to raise funds from international
bond markets, while investment in Africa has grown at an annual
rate of nearly 13% since 2007,’ he said.
Christian Sarafidis, Head of Western Europe, Middle East &
Africa, SWIFT, supported this statement and said that Africa has
firmly established itself as a continent of hope and opportunity.
Sarafidis highlighted Botswana’s second position on the base
profitability index of returns on Foreign Direct Investment.
‘Of course, there is still a lot to do, not least the need for huge
investment in Africa’s infrastructure, but the momentum is clearly
underway – Africa’s future is in Africa’s hands,’ Sarafidis said.
‘Lack of infrastructure creates real barriers to growth – whether
these are barriers to physical travel or to trade and communications,’
he said. ‘But projects across Africa demonstrate that national
governments are working to improve their own domestic
infrastructure, as well as working with others in regional integration
projects to address cross border issues.’
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MAINTAINING THE MOMENTUM
Alain Raes, Chief Executive of EMEA & APAC, SWIFT, said it was
imperative to look at ways of maintaining the momentum that has
been achieved.
He agreed that cross-border financial infrastructure was a
critical element of Africa’s regional integration projects; only
when this part of the puzzle is in place can substantive growth
follow. ‘We need to continue to be innovative in the way that we
support these developments, because SWIFT and other providers
are important components of the financial architecture that
facilitates Africa’s expanding regional growth as well as its role
in global trade.’
Nerina Visser, Head of Beta Solutions and ETFs at Nedbank
Capital, said regionalisation projects must facilitate cross-border
access to financial markets and thereby unleash African investment,
particularly in equity markets.
‘The dividends and capital growth that is currently flowing out
should be captured in Africa, for Africans. There are huge pension
funds in Africa but they largely focus on their own economies,
and primarily on bonds. This is a highly risky strategy: it offers no
diversification, no risk sharing – and definitely no intra-African
investment,’ she said.
Visser had a clear message for delegates. While Africa is moving
“from aid to investment”, there are still too many outflows to
overseas investors and intra-African investment has to be increased
so that it is Africans who benefit from growth and development.
UNLEASHING REGIONAL GROWTH
A key theme that resonated throughout the conference was that
regional harmonisation projects have the potential to revolutionise
African trade, and that standardisation and harmonisation will
not only cut costs and improve efficiency, but will also release free
market forces to drive innovation.
Tim Masela, Head of the SADC Payments System Project,
South Africa Reserve Bank, emphasised the idea that payments
infrastructure create the “bridges” linking countries, and stressed the
need for operational collaboration across multiple projects.
‘If we adopt standards that are open and international, this will
fuel growth. This is important not only to drive intra-SADC growth,
but to fuel growth between regions. If EAC, WAMZ, COMESA and
SADC, for example, are all using the same standards, this unlocks
huge growth potential.’
Edition 6
2013/07/17 3:22 PM