ACCRA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Ghanaian government on Wednesday urged member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a subregional bloc, to mobilize their internal resources to finance development.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama's senior economic advisor, Seth Terkper, said at the 24th Annual General Meeting of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) that Africa's economic independence hinges on how well the continent leverages domestic resources for development.
The EBID recorded strong achievements in 2025, with total disbursements of about 722 million U.S. dollars, up 47.7 percent from 2024.
According to Terkper, the performance of sub-regional financial and development institutions shows that the subregion has the capacity to mobilize and manage its own resources for development, even as the global financing environment becomes less favorable to developing countries.
"Capital is becoming increasingly selective, and risk pricing has tightened, and access to long-term financing for emerging and frontier markets remains constrained," Terkper said in the speech read on behalf of Mahama, highlighting that this trend poses significant challenges for the subregion's development goals and underscores the need for innovative financing solutions.
Terkper urged ECOWAS to make use of the large stock exchanges in the subregion as drivers for development finance mobilization to secure the needed capital for regional infrastructure development.
EBID President George Agyekum Donkor said the bank is committed to its core mandate of supporting member states to come out of poverty and address infrastructure deficits across the region.
"We aim to direct at least 63 percent of our new commitments toward the private sector enterprises to catalyze innovation and job creation simultaneously," Donkor said. ■