The Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Romuald WADAGNI took part in the presence of representatives of G20 countries, multilateral financial institutions, heads of state and heads of delegation at the high-level conference chaired by the German Chancellor His Excellency Dr. Angela Merkel on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 as part of the G20 summit on investment in Africa which took place in Berlin, Germany. Several subjects were at the center of the debates, in particular, security, improvements in the business environment, the need for an increase in Foreign Direct Investments c as a vector for the growth of key sectors such as energy, industry and tourism . Two highlights marked the proceedings: a business summit organized in the morning by the associations of the German Chamber of Commerce and the political dialogue between the Heads of State and of delegation in the afternoon. Mr. Romuald WADAGNI in his speech, emphasized three concrete axes: The reclassification of African risk too often overvalued, making the risk premiums required by donors prohibitive. The minister deplored the fact that a country like Benin has not changed its classification from the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) for the past 15 years despite its spectacular progress in terms of macroeconomic performance, improvement of the business climate and that Benin does not post any defaults. He indicated that this static classification has 3 consequences: (i) it does not encourage “good student” efforts and countries, (ii) it contributes to maintaining a negative perception of our economies and of Africa in general and (iii) contributes to increasing the costs of financing projects. Improving maturities available from export credit agencies. In fact, these agencies generally offer maturities of 10 years plus the construction period, which limits the volumes of investment eligible for this financing. The minister pleaded for an upward revision of this 10-year period to allow the consistency of the duration of the credit with the duration of investments and the acceleration of the pace of investment of countries, with repayment capacity equal. He also took stock of the reforms that make Benin an attractive country in the sub-region and places it as a prime investment hub for economic partners. He insisted on 3 structural reforms carried out in Benin since the 2018 edition of the Compact with Africa initiative which in Berlin saw the participation of the President of the Republic, Mr. Patrice TALON: – the reform of vocational training which will make it possible to have 70% of our young people trained in vocational and technical courses because today 90% of young Beninese are trained in general courses. The minister clarified that the 2020 finance law currently being voted on in the National Assembly included the abolition of a dozen taxes. Regarding dematerialization, it should be noted that Benin is one of the rare African countries to offer the entire dematerialized tax chain (online transmission of financial statements, obtaining tax certificates and documents, payment of taxes. ..). – reforms and investments in the energy sector which is a crucial sector because without energy, Benin cannot strengthen these capacities and improve the processing sectors of its products. The Compact with Africa is an initiative launched by Germany within the framework of the G20 to support investment in Africa, including support for improving the business environment and carrying out development projects. Benin is one of the twelve African countries (Benin, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia) selected by Germany as part of this initiative which operates under the leadership of Chancellor Angela MERKEL.
