15 December 2020
Professor Victor Murinde, AXA Professor in the School of Finance and Management and Director, Centre for Global Finance, moderated the High Level Panel Discussion at the launch of the UN-ECA flagship publication, the Economic Report on Africa 2020, on 15 December 2020. The report is on “Innovative Financing for Private Sector Development in Africa”. After the welcome and opening remarks by Dr. Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA, and the presentation of the report by Mr. William Lugemwa, Director of Private Sector Development and Finance Division at the ECA, Professor Murinde introduced the High Level Panel and lead the discussion. The panel members were Dr Retselisitsoe Adelai Matlanyane, Governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho; Dr Andrew Mwaba, Board of Directors, Bank of Zambia; Dr Louis Rene Peter Larose, Former Minister of Finance from Seychelles; Dr Iraj Abedian, Chief Executive of Pan-African Investment and Research Services; and Dr Mohammed Ibrahim, Advisor to the Vice Minister of Finance for Public Treasury, Egypt. The discussion acknowledged the Economic Report for Africa 2020 as a game-changing publication that identifies innovative financing instruments and mechanisms for accelerating the growth of the private sector in Africa, as a major pathway to inclusive and sustainable development in the continent.
