IGAD mulls bank for faster regional integration – Official The East African Regional Body, Inter governmental Agency on Development (IGAD), has proposed to establish a regional bank to fast track economic growth of the region. Finance experts from the region on Saturday, convened a meeting in Addis Ababa, to discuss a proposal on modalities to create the bank to be solely operated by the body. The meeting was convened by the Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute in Addis Ababa to evolve proper means of creating the Bank and how to finance its operations within the region. Dr Haile Kebret, a Research Director at the institute, said the meeting was convened to discuss the ownership structure and the modalities of its operations. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the IGAD secretariat had conducted research on the proposal to establish the finance institution to be known as ``Development Bank for IGAD’’. The official said the proposal was mulled following growing financial needs for the region to tackle its infrastructure and other development projects for growth and faster regional integration. Kebret said more feasibility studies would be carried out to determine the financing prospects and the risks involved in the adventure. ``We are looking at the demand and the supply side of the equation, the prospects of donors financing and the ability of the potential borrowers and how to account for the loans,`` he said. The meeting had proposed to implore the IGAD secretariat to handle the technical as well as the paperwork required to legalise the proposed bank. Meanwhile, efforts were being made to involve the Horn of Africa regional lenders. The experts said the proposed IGAD Bank would be dedicated to the promotion of regional security through the financing of projects that would also promote peace. The Managing Director of the Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute, Ali Abdi, said there was need for adequate research and consultations to bring the proposed bank to reality. According to him, IGAD has done the preliminary work and wants to validate its findings on details including the amount of capital subscription per member state. NAN reports that the experts were drawn from UN agencies, IGAD members, including Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 19:25:36 +0000
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