1998 SOUTHERN AFRICA ECONOMIC ... - National Treasury

means that will have beneficial results in the spill over effects of
structural adjustment pro c e s s e s ,and in general, p romote sound
m a c ro-economic management principles.
R e p o rting through the Committee of Tre a s u ry Officials are the
Committee of Accountants-Generals and A u d i t o r s - G e n e r a l s ,
and the Committee of Non-Banking Superv i s o ry A u t h o r i t i e s .
The Ministers realised that since trade integration effo rts are
being seriously add ressed by the re g i o n ,it would be prudent to
e n s u re that institutional problems associated with macro -
economic policy re form and financial infrastructure are
attended to as a matter of urgency. Hence the invo l vement of
private and public sector pro fessionals such as the accountants
and auditors, and superv i s o ry authorities. The issue in this
re g a rd is that while SADC is developing region specific solutions
associated with regional integration, it would be easy to lose
sight of integration as a tool for small open economies to
expand marke t s , but more import a n t ly, to take advantages of
globalisation and international competitive n e s s .
A c c o rd i n g ly the regional accountants and auditors are taske d
with the responsibility to:
• determine the desirability and feasibility of harmonising
s t a n d a rds within the re g i o n ;a n d
• determine what needs to be done at a pro fe s s i o n a l ,t e c h n i c a l
and political level to ensure that the private and public sectors
of the SADC region adhere to international standard s .
S i m i l a r ly, the regional superv i s o ry authorities are tasked with:
• obtaining an understanding of the nature, s t r u c t u re, p e r s o n s
and institutions invo l ved in superv i s o ry activities in the re g i o n ;
• discussing the various cross border activities and superv i s o ry
responses that may be re q u i red as a re s u l t ;
• looking at the way fo r w a rd and considering a strategy in
relation to the establishment of a regional body,which may be
private or public, charged with the responsibility for off-site
a n a lyses of adherence to prudential rules and regulations on
a regional basis.
It is hoped that the invo l vement of various superv i s o ry
authorities in SADC fora will go a long way in the design of
efficient re g u l a t o ry systems,and as they will advise the Ministers
and make recommendations on desirable changes, t h ey will add
value tow a rds a solution to the negative perceptions on risk in
S A D C.
The Finance and Investment Sector Co-ordinating Unit (FISCU)
acts as a secretariat for the Ministers of Finance Committee.A s
such it is responsible for the daily management of sectorial
a c t i v i t i e s .The functions allocated to FISCU are dedicated to the
s e rving of all sectorial committees and sub-committees. T h i s
i nvo l ves setting up the terms of re fe rence and determining a
work plan and agenda for each sub-structure that is established
in the support of sectorial objective s . FISCU also plays a
monitoring role on all projects befo re submission to the
M i n i s t e r s .Most of the projects undert a ken by the sector are
funded in collaboration with international co-operating
p a rt n e r s .FISCU is responsible for the identification of suitable
donors and partners for each pro j e c t , and negotiation of
financing pro p o s a l s .The process of identifying suitable part n e r s
is critical to the success of each project as it identifies possible
conditionalities that the sector need to comply with and
eliminates unnecessary processes and pro c e d u re s .The matching
of donors, p rojects and focus groups within the Sector re s u l t s
in the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which
sets out the framework of the relationship between the Sector
and donors. FISCU pre p a res all the MOUs and where a pro j e c t
re q u i res the services of consultants FISCU contracts a suitably
qualified candidate.
For the financial year 1998/99 FISCU’s key functions are :
• to produce a framework document that will be a composite
of policies and strategies that the sector needs to adopt to
f u rther the aims of economic integration.
• to produce a Finance and Investment Protocol that will be
submitted to the Ministers for final ap p roval in June 1999.
• to produce a quart e r ly newsletter with information on the
activities of the sector.
• to identify suitable international co-operating partners for the
s e c t o r ’s new activities.
• to produce a SADC macro-economic analysis document that
will be used to inform current and potential regional and
international investors of, amongst others, the inve s t m e n t
climate in each SADC economy, potential inve s t m e n t
o p p o rt u n i t i e s ,and legal provisions for doing trade in SADC.
This document will be available to participants at the
Southern Africa Economic Summit to be held on 17 - 19 May
1998 in Namibia. It will also be available on Internet add re s s :
w w w. f i n a n c e. gov. z a / S A D C.
• to work with the SADC stock exchanges in their pursuit of
harmonised policies and operations.
• to promote the establishment of effe c t i ve networks betwe e n
SADC development finance institutions.
• to promote the adherence of SADC governments to prudent
fiscal and monetary policies, t h rough inter alia, d evising an
acceptable macro-economic convergence model.
• to promote effe c t i ve networking between non-banking
re g u l a t o ry agencies so as to devise a set of compatible
regional rules.
• to work with all re l evant stakeholders in the harmonisation of
practices and standards in the accounting and auditing
p ro fe s s i o n s .
• to provide input on regional dimensions in dialogue that
Ministers of Finance have with multilateral institutions such as
the IMF, World Bank, the Non Aligned Move m e n t ,
C o m m o n wealth and others.
S E C TORAL AC T I V I T I E S
In a broad sense the Sector is add ressing various issues of
financial co-operation. In 1995 it was decided that financial cooperation
will add ress the fo l l ow i n g :
• Financial re forms including the promotion of investment and
trade financing;
• The possibilities of establishing a regional finance and
d evelopment mechanism with cognisance to the need for a
m o re balanced geographical pattern of inve s t m e n t ;
• Co-operation in the field of monetary matters such as
m o n e t a ry policy, exchange rate policy, c u rrency conve rt i b i l i t y,
fo reign exchange re s e rve management, fo reign debt
management and other issues related to the liberalisation of
financial marke t s ;
• The development of compatible rules and re g u l a t i o n s
governing supervision of banks and other financial institutions;
• The development and strengthening of capital and money
m a r kets including national and regional stock exchanges;
• The development of human re s o u rce capacity in the areas of
finance and inve s t m e n t ;
• The development of payment and clearance systems to
facilitate efficient cross border pay m e n t .
The Sector has three main themes and a number of pro j e c t s
that complement each other and add ress the adopted themes.
I . M AC RO-ECONOMIC MANAG E M E N T
The main thrust of this theme is to complement trade
integration effo rts and to ensure that the political will that
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