AFRICA: Conference calls for sale of IMF gold to finance debt relief

African ministers of finance have called for the sale of gold held by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance debt relief as part of efforts to reduce poverty in Africa. In a statement released on Saturday, they urged "complete cancellation" of debts resulting from bilateral aid and a 90 percent reduction in all other bilateral debt. The closing statement of a four day ministerial conference held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa said that the central message of the UNECA's 1999 economic report on Africa was "sobering". Levels of eight percent growth will be needed in sub-Saharan Africa to make significant inroads on poverty, while debt repayments at US $35 billion per year hugely outweigh incoming aid flows. A re-negotiation of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative is now inevitable, observers at the conference told IRIN. The sale of some of the IMF's US $30 billion in gold reserves, and its re-investment to generate debt relief funds has recently been supported by several western donors. But the African governments' position taken on debt at the conference has little changed since 1996, officials said. "The rest of the world is catching up with what the African ministers said two years ago," said K. Y. Amoako, UNECA's Executive Secretary. The need for a combination of aid and African self-reliance was a frequent theme of the conference. Nigerian minister Akpan Wilson Etuk-Udo told reporters "we're not going to rely on aid, and aid, and aid". Despite the majority of African countries undergoing economic policy reform and thus providing a "conducive" environment for external aid, overseas development assistance (ODA) is approaching the lowest levels ever, reports presented at the conference claimed. As well as declining aid budgets, the conference considered the lessons from the Asian financial crisis and other negative influences on the African economy. Conflict in Africa remains of "paramount" concern, said Amoako, adding that "the resources going into conflict are a serious concern". The ministers expressed "disappointment" at the lack of foreign direct investment and "concern" at the fact that nearly 40 percent of Africa's wealth is stored abroad - compared to six percent of Asia's. The ministers, in an public acknowledgement of graft, also stated that "large amounts of corruptly obtained funds are likely to be stashed overseas". UNECA Web Site [ENDS]