Press Release

AfriCatalyst CEO Daouda Sembene Testifies on International Financial Institutions at U.S. Congressional Hearing

DAKAR, Senegal –– Dakar-based global development advisory AfriCatalyst is pleased to announce that its CEO, Daouda Sembene, testified yesterday, May 25^th, before the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions at a hearing entitled “International Financial Institutions in an Era of Great Power Competition.”

In his testimony, Dr. Sembene, a Distinguished Nonresident Fellow at the Washington-based Center for Global Development and former Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), highlighted the following key points:

• Constructive engagement between the United States and other major shareholders, including China, is important within international financial institutions, as it helps these institutions develop and advance a shared agenda that supports the demands of member countries and the global community.
• Great power competition could be detrimental to IFIs by weakening their governance framework, complicating priority identification, and reducing their resource mobilization potential.  A non-cooperative stance between the United States and China could adversely affect these institutions, the world community, and the developing world.
• There is merit in the United States using its leverage and influence to secure IFIs’ support for the implementation of U.S.-led infrastructure development initiatives. This collaboration would benefit both the United States and its African partners by closing the infrastructure gap, fostering growth, reducing poverty, and improving social services.
• The United States has a unique responsibility for ensuring that multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank have adequate resources to fulfill their mandate. And it needs to assume this responsibility by providing timely and adequate funding to IFIs and contributing to capital increases whenever warranted.

To view the livestream of the event, click here.

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For more information and media interviews, please contact: Bineta Pouye at [email protected]

About AfriCatalyst

AFRICATALYST is an independent global development advisory firm that strives to create partnerships between global and local stakeholders to promote innovative, evidence-based solutions to Africa’s economic development challenges.

We aim to make a difference in helping local and foreign stakeholders work collaboratively and build mutually beneficial partnerships to advance their development objectives. The solutions we propose are supported by a solid understanding of the economic, political and social realities and contexts of the African countries in which we operate.