World Bank Wants Sovereign Wealth Funds Invested in Africa

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick said on Wednesday that sovereign wealth funds should invest one percent of their holdings in equity in Africa to boost investment opportunities and development.

He urged developed countries to provide immediate support to help the world’s poor facing skyrocketing food prices, saying there was an urgent need to counter the current global crisis and lay the foundations to maximize opportunity and hope for all.

He called for a global trade deal to be agreed on as soon as possible and detailed an initiative to help countries manage their wealth earned from high energy and mineral prices in a more inclusive way.

In a speech delivered ahead of next week’s Spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF, he said the Bank Group will work with sovereign wealth funds to create a “One Percent Solution” for equity investment in Africa, a continent with opportunities and the potential to become an alternative pole of growth as China, India and other countries.

“Today, sovereign wealth funds hold an estimated $3 trillion in assets. If the World Bank Group can help create the platforms and benchmarks, the investment of even one percent of their assets would draw $30 billion to African growth, development, and opportunity, he said.

Zoellick said sovereign wealth funds offered opportunity, “not something to fear”, adding that “the sovereign funds need transparency and should be guided by best practice to avoid politicization.

“But I believe we should celebrate a possibility that government-sponsored funds will invest equity in development,” he said.

Source African Press Agency

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