Days after releasing its 2026 macroeconomic outlook, the African Development Bank Group has urged African finance ministers to ramp up efforts to unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in domestic revenue in the years ahead.

Speaking at a high-level ministerial meeting at the 58th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (COM58) in Tangier, Morocco, on April 1, Bank Group Chief Economist and Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, Prof. Kevin Chika Urama, highlighted the fundamental role of domestic resource mobilisation as an enabler of development.

Domestic resource mobilisation, he noted, is "critical to strengthening resilience, reinforcing sovereignty, and delivering essential public services and infrastructure."

The ministerial meeting, themed "Mobilising Domestic Resources: A Key Lever for Africa's Development," was hosted by Nadia Fettah,Minister of Economy and Finance of the Kingdom of Morocco, as part of COM58, an event convened annually by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Prof. Urama presented the Bank Group's five pillars needed for effective domestic resource mobilisation, including the strengthening of tax policy and administration, and simplifying tax regimes and diversifying sources to broaden the base.

He indicated that domestic resource mobilization has been a central pillar of the Bank Group's support to economic governance for over a decade, with 31 active programmes across 22 Regional Member Countries working to improve collection efficiency, broaden the base, strengthen regimes, and reduce illicit financial flows.

He outlined key initiatives spearheaded by the Bank to support domestic resource mobilization on the continent, including the Debt Management Forum for Africa (DeMFA) and the African Debt Manager's Initiative Network (ADMIN), among others.

In his closing remarks, Prof. Urama presented short- and medium-to-long-term policy recommendations to strengthen domestic resource mobilization  on the continent, as well as practical recommendations for African ministers of finance, planning, and economic development to implement to make the process a key driver of national development.

The Bank Group's Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033) and its new Four Cardinal Points  firmly position domestic resource mobilization  as a strategic lever to finance Africa's structural transformation.

To read VP Urama's full speech, click here.