Southern African Development Community (SADC) Finance and Investment Ministers, together with the SADC Peer Review Panel, have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening regional cooperation in investment, financial integration and macroeconomic surveillance to accelerate inclusive economic growth and development.
The commitment was made during a meeting of the SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment and the Peer Review Panel held in Harare, where regional leaders discussed measures to enhance economic resilience, mobilise financing and promote sustainable development.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairperson of the SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment and South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, said the region needed to rethink its development financing model in response to declining donor support.
“Beyond protecting critical social sectors, there is an urgent need to pivot toward more sustainable and diversified financing models, leveraging blended finance, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and deeper private sector participation to offset declining donor flows,” he said.
Godongwana urged SADC member states to adopt coordinated and forward-looking economic policies to cushion their economies against external shocks while positioning the region as a competitive regional production hub.
“The Committee of SADC Ministers of Finance and Investment is looked upon to provide solutions to enhance financial resilience whilst embracing innovation, improving climate resilience, and reinforcing strategic partnerships, especially with the private sector,” he said.
SADC Executive Secretary, Elias Magosi said governments should adopt a whole-of-government approach to improve policy coherence and drive industrialisation across the region.
“This approach must be complemented by a re-engineered industrial strategy that promotes value addition, diversification and regional value chains, alongside a coordinated energy transition framework to guarantee reliable and affordable power for industrialisation,” he said.
He said increased intra-SADC trade, stronger border connectivity and the optimal use of member states’ comparative advantages would deepen regional integration and economic resilience.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said no SADC member state could realise its full economic potential on its own.
“Our economies are connected by geography, history, infrastructure, trade corridors, financial flows and a shared development aspiration. When one Member State becomes more stable, more productive and more connected, the SADC region, as a whole, becomes stronger,” he said.
The ministers agreed on a number of priority actions, including strengthening domestic resource mobilisation, promoting industrialisation and value addition, expanding regional value chains, improving energy and food security, deepening regional capital markets and accelerating digital financial inclusion.
They also called for the fast-tracking of the SADC Regional Development Fund, the adoption of national currencies on the SADC Regional Real Time Gross Settlement System to improve cross-border payments, and stronger anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures to safeguard the region’s financial systems.
