The Senegalese and foreign press gave wide coverage to President Macky Sall’s op-ed published on the online medium Context. Style makes the man, said a famous thinker. The style of the man Macky Sall is indisputably in the constancy of the fight he is waging to restore Africa’s rightful place in the concert of nations. He led this fight for twelve years at the head of Senegal, culminating in his presidency of the African Union. As a statesman who passed on the torch, and as Special Envoy of the Paris Pact for People and Planet (4P), he continues to pursue this legitimate struggle on the international stage. Let me clear up a misunderstanding here: the 4Ps are not a French organization, but an international platform to which 54 countries have signed up for a reform of global governance. President Macky Sall has agreed to act as facilitator, bringing together low-income and industrialized countries, from East to West, North to South, to discuss issues such as debt, inclusive finance, ecological transition, fairer access to finance… The aim is to build an inclusive multilateralism designed to promote inclusive and sustainable development.

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The world must face up to the evidence and wisdom of the imperative need to integrate an active Africa into its march. President Sall’s rich experience in the management of a State eager to get out of the trap into which, along with many other States, it has been forced by an iniquitous and obsolete system. His approach represents an important lever for the historic adventure of the rights and dignity of peoples. It provides a dynamic for a new and meaningful itinerary for progress, peace and global justice.

While globalization has brought prosperity to many countries in all regions of the world, inequalities between rich and poor countries continue to grow. President Sall cites the IMF’s 2021 annual report, which found that “the poorest countries are falling even further behind” the industrialized nations. Such widening inequalities can only lead to a fragmented world, prey to convulsions ranging from communal violence to uncontrolled migration, and to the sense of injustice that affects many citizens in the countries of the South.

The world is just emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, whose unprecedented and violent outbreak has had serious consequences for already fragile African economies. Although many studies predicted disaster for Africa, the continent has held up rather well. Senegal was able to soften the blow thanks to the 1,000 billion CFA francs Economic and Social Resilience Program, which provided support for the most vulnerable businesses and households.  Our country has also decided to reorient the implementation of the Senegal Emerging Plan through Pap2a, in order to integrate the lessons of the pandemic and take on board priorities relating to sustainable and inclusive industrialization, accelerating food, health and pharmaceutical sovereigntý, strengthening social protection and increasing private sector intervention in the economy.

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Growth, initially forecast at 0.7%, was able to hold up at 1.5% in 2020. In this exceptional situation, the international campaign initiated by President Sall for the cancellation of African debt raised $20 billion for reinvestment in economic recovery. He has also worked hard to reallocate Special Drawing Rights, which will generate around $33 billion for Africa by 2022.

More structurally, Covid and the Russian-Ukrainian war have had dramatic consequences for many African countries. Yet everything is urgent in Africa, given the structural weakness of our economies and the growing demand for employment and access to basic social services.

African countries are in dire need of financing to invest in accessible, quality public services such as water, electricity, schools, health care, etc. Paradoxically, Africa, which suffers from a significant gap in virtually all economic and social sectors, is not attracting sufficient funding due to a structural flaw in international governance that needs to be corrected.

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Excessive conditionalities imposed by wealthy donors prevent easy access to credit. Another recurring difficulty, long denounced by President Sall, is the very high-risk rates faced by developing countries. These are imposed by rating agencies and have a negative effect on the financing of African economies. In concrete terms, these two factors have a direct impact on debt levels, and hamper the ability of governments to raise large volumes of money from multilateral institutions and private financial structures.

President Sall is right to point out that, on average, “African countries pay four times more for their loans than the United States and eight times more than the richest European economies”. This is at a time when Africa needs a major plan to build modern, structuring infrastructure, estimated at almost $200 billion a year, if it is to accelerate its path towards emergence. Industrialization, digital transformation and the energy transition, for example, are major priorities for Africa, requiring a massive volume of investment.

With his call for “inclusive multilateralism”, President Macky Sall has launched a doctrine outlining the contours of a new international order to take over from the current configuration of international relations. This doctrine calls for an end to the financial discrimination suffered by developing countries, through urgent reform of the international financial system. In his view, it is no longer acceptable for African countries to be forced to cut spending on education and health in the name of debt repayment, thereby mortgaging the future of children on a continent where 400 million people are between the ages of 15 and 35. Also, 60% of Africans are under the age of 24.

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In the same vein, in the name of the climate emergency, everyone cannot be held equally responsible. For decades, industrialized economies have profited from fossil fuels to establish their industrial dominance, the basis of their current development. While Africa accounts for a negligible proportion of CO2 emissions, and needs to kick-start its industrialization drive in order to catch up economically, the same rules should not be applied to it as to those who bear responsibility for current global warming. Through massive investment in innovation, it is possible to reconcile economic progress and ecological transition.

The “inclusive multilateralism” advocated by President Sall also involves facilitating access to capital markets to finance development and make African debt more sustainable. Africa’s debts total 365 billion dollars, and servicing them each year has a negative impact on countries’ budgetary policies. De facto, debt reduces governments’ room for manouvre in the face of numerous economic and social emergencies.

As a reminder, Senegal hosted the December 2019 debt conference, attended by numerous heads of state and the Managing Director of the IMF. The “Dakar Consensus” adopted at the end of this meeting advocated a more equitable global financial governance, African debt sustainability taking into account its specificities, and greater recognition of Africa’s role as a locomotive of global growth.

The “inclusive multilateralism” to which President Sall is calling the world is in line with the dimension of our country, a Nation that has always been at the heart of the international agenda to think about profound ruptures with a view to making humanity fairer and more habitable. This desire, reiterated by the Special Envoy of the Paris Pact for Peoples and the Planet, signifies a great concern for history. It follows other major commitments, such as making Africa’s membership of the G20 a priority of his term at the helm of the AU. In India, in September 2023, the African Union formally became a permanent member of the G20.

In signing this editorial, his first public statement since stepping down from power on April 2, President Macky Sall has set his sights on his priority for the coming months: to breathe new life into multilateralism in the face of the challenges of our times. As a statesman and an African, he is in his rightful role as a trailblazer for the paths of hope that will enable Africa to take its rightful place on the international stage. It must become the locomotive of world growth, given the vitality of its youth, its immense natural resources, its resilience in the face of shocks, and above all thanks to its new leadership embodied by statesmen and women who are visionary, courageous and open to the world.

“Inclusive multilateralism” is a call for reform to build an ethical relationship that will make global governance fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable.
By Hamidou ANNE / hamidou.anne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH