THEME: Financing for Development in Challenging Times

As global leaders converge in Kigali, Rwanda, for the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, in June 2021, African Leadership Magazine is hosting the International Forum on Public Finance & Taxation for Development in Africa on the sidelines of CHOGM. 

The Forum with the theme: Financing for Development in Challenging Times is billed to hold from 16-18 June 2021 at the Ubumwe Grande Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda. The event will have in attendance Ministers of Finance, tax experts, business, political and diplomatic leaders from around the world.    

Prevailing realities have shown that Sub-Saharan Africa may have avoided the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of infections and deaths, but the economic casualties have been enormous. 

According to a 2020 world Bank regional economic analysis titled: Africa’s Pulse: Charting the Road to Recovery, the pandemic pushed Sub-Saharan Africa to experience its first recession after 25 years. It also drove about 40 million people into extreme poverty and erased at least five years of the progress made in fighting poverty. Furthermore, the pandemic compromised the continent’s public finance significantly. Many countries were forced to adopt incentives to taxpayers as they experienced an unprecedented contraction of tax revenue. The pandemic also placed extreme stress on public spending as governments struggled to respond to the health crisis, including increased funding for the health sector, social and business relief, measures to reduce and combat the spread of the virus and various other related needs. 

The pandemic poses tremendous challenges for Africa. However, it offers opportunities for constructive change, as well. It provides opportunities for a fresh start as most nations and companies have been placed on start-up modes. 

Some have estimated that it will take about 10-15 years for countries to recover from the impact of COVID-19. However, the pace of recovery will essentially be dependent on individual efforts, strategies and ingenuity. More importantly, the recovery pace will be driven by the management of scarce resources towards financing development and improving taxation.    

Therefore, this Forum seeks to evolve discussions centred on tested strategies, policy frameworks, and intentional plans to solve major public finance and taxation issues in the continent. The forum will also provide a platform for participants to network and find solutions to peculiar challenges they face in their different countries, states and establishments. 

  Global trends and prevailing realities suggest that only Africans can truly understand Africa and thus solve the continent’s problems. The Forum will galvanize homegrown solutions for solving Africa’s public finance dilemma.

Objectives

1. To help evolve home grown solutions for peculiar public finance and taxation issues.
2. To promote an exchange of tested ideas, projects, research results, and findings that can help to build sustainable economic growth in the various regions, sub-regions and nations.
3. Promote a clear understanding of Taxation in the Digital Economy.
4. To provide a platform of opportunities for participants to undertake peer review also meet face to face with renowned experts, development economists, academics, and development partners to establish global partnerships for assistance and collaborations.

Forum Highlights

1. High-level panels and Keynote Presentations

2. Interactive Sessions 

3. Ideating sessions 

4. Experts Knowledge Sharing Session 

5. Unrivaled Networking Opportunities

About African Leadership Magazine:

The African Leadership magazine is published by African Leadership (UK) Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom (Company No. 07435198). The magazine focuses on bringing the best of Africa to a global audience, telling the African story from an African perspective; while evolving solutions to peculiar challenges being faced by the continent today.

Since its maiden edition, African Leadership Magazine has grown to become a leading pan-African flagship leadership-focused publication read by targeted international investors, business executives, government policymakers, and multilateral agencies across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Europe, and the US. It is distributed at major international and African Leadership events around the world. The magazine has over 900,000 subscribers/Followers on Facebook alone and a virile readership on other social media platforms. It is a niche and unbiased African voice, telling African stories from African lenses.