CeSPI CentroStudiPoliticaInternazionale

Annual Report on International Finance & Development in Africa

Project overview

The project “Annual report on International Finance and Development in Africa” - undertaken by CeSPI (Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale) in joint partnership with FIIAPP (International and Ibero-American Foundation of Administration and Public Policies) and SID (Society for International Development) - aims at contributing to chart and analyse the principal financial flows for development in Africa, namely: external debt (stocks and flows), official development assistance, remittances, investment and trade-related flows for development.
The value added is to re-discuss the international finance and development nexus through an approach to data based on the receiving countries’ point of view.

The statistical information will be gathered locally and analysed in a report/atlas, with a year based time lag. The first edition (namely Report N. Zero) will be published in Autumn 2008. This method would be tailored to highlight the role of the new global actors, South-South relations and interaction among different types of flows, as well as complement the existing statistics elaborated by donors countries and international organisations.
The report - conceived as a tool for public administrations, civil society actors, academics and researchers - is meant to contribute to the enhancement and development of local capacities and to explore the possibility of producing standardised information on financial flows to African countries which is not presently available.
For the first year, a restricted number of countries will be selected and targeted in the attempt to represent all African regional grouping, considering factors such as the degree of data feasibility and accessibility.
In the present phase, a definition of a common minimum standard of information is required in order to guarantee homogeneity among country reports, standardise the data and cross-cut the information thematically and geographically. With this purpose, preliminary consultations are being organised at informal level in Rome and Madrid with Italian and Spanish national institutions (responsible for monetary, financial and statistical matters), as well as with European and African experts. At the same time, through the African Embassies and other channels we are contacting African researchers in order to address key questions and identify possible collaborators.

The project, directed by Marco Zupi, will be coordinated by a research team based in Italy and Spain, and will rely on a network of researchers in the target countries. Local researchers will be engaged as regional focal points, working on data collection, interacting with local actors (institutions, academics, etc.) and drafting relevant report sections.
For the first year, the country reports will include:
A presentation and analysis of collected data on the main financial inflows to the country (a. Foreign direct investments; b. Official development assistance; c. Public and private debt; d. Trade related inflows; e. Migrant remittances),
- broken down in terms of countries of origin, sector of destination in the national economy, geographical destination in the country, main components (to be further specified by the coordinating team);
- studied in terms of impact on national economy and local development, considering interrelations among flows

Additionally, the local researchers will be asked to identify, collect and propose a list of available papers carried out in the country (including the executive summary and, when possible, the full text) concerning a specific aspect of the nexus between external finance and local development in the country (e.g. a case of FDI, the role of emerging countries, the impact of specific flows on employment in a given area, etc.). Among them, the coordination team will select a paper to be published as an annex to the report.