Strengthening Fiscal Institutions to Combat Corruption in sub-Saharan Africa

Corruption, defined as the abuse of public office for private gain, takes a toll on economic growth and diminishes the opportunities to lift people from poverty. It reduces the ability for a government to deliver some of its main functions – to collect taxes, spend money efficiently, deliver key public services, and support a country’s sustainable and inclusive growth.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lag many countries that perform well according to the global Control of Corruption Index. The IMF estimates that the SSA region could add 1-2 percent annually to GDP growth and raise 4-6 percent more in revenue each year if governance standards were increased to the world average. These would be huge dividends.

Recognizing that control of corruption is critical for macroeconomic performance and economic development, the IMF’s Executive Board issued in 2018 a Framework for Enhanced Engagement in Governance. The IMF has followed up with increased surveillance, governance assessments of several countries, and capacity development initiatives to help member states reduce corruption.

As part of this effort, the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department, in collaboration with the IMF’s Africa Training Institute, African, Legal, and Finance departments, organized the second edition of its training course on “Building Institutions to Fight Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The training took place during March 21-28 2022.[1]

The course, which builds on the IMF’s 2018 Framework, presented the legal and fiscal aspects of governance, including revenue and expenditure management, the quasi-fiscal operations of central banks, anti-money-laundering instruments, and anti-corruption institutions. A session was dedicated to corruption risks in natural resources management, a core issue for many resource-rich African countries. Another session, on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasized the urgency of institutionalizing strong anti-corruption and transparency mechanisms to counter the risks of future national emergencies.

About 40 senior government officials from 19 Sub-Saharan countries were represented.[2] The participants included representatives of Prime Ministers’ Offices, Ministries of Finance, Revenue Authorities, Supreme Audit Institutions, Finance Inspectorates, and Anti-Corruption Agencies.

Further information about the IMF’s work on tackling corruption is available on Governance and Anti-Corruption (imf.org).

Footnotes:

[1] The first training course took place in November 16-20th ?2020.

[2] Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Congo (DR), Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, Uganda, Zambia