EAC to hold the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) conference to discuss regional debt levels

The Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) East Africa Investment conference is gearing up to hold a conference solely to discuss the current regional debt levels and alternatives sources of finance to fund mega projects in East Africa.

The conference is scheduled to take place on April 5, 2018, at Saravo Stanley hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. At the recently concluded EAC summit in Kampala, it was revealed that the region needed $78 billion to fund mega infrastructure projects but still had issues about what the source of this money would be.

After the recently concluded CFA summit, Mariam Nansubuga, CFA East Africa society vice president, told reporters in Kampala that the conference would raise awareness about opportunities for investment in the continent and how governments can source for the needed money.

CFA is a global association of investment professionals with over 124,000 members in 144 countries. There are 877 candidates studying the CFA programme in East Africa, with Kenya having the highest number.

Alan N Lwetabe, a CFA member, said the industry draws professionals from industries such as the pension sector, commercial banking and investment institutions among others.

Sovereign debt is particularly a topical issue in the region as member states look over their shoulders over piling public debt.

According to the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa report, Uganda’s debt is about 50% of the country’s GDP. These levels and those of EAC region, in general, are worrying.

There have been fears that actually some countries that are borrowing heavily amidst non-expanding revenues and might not be able to meet their debt obligations.

All these issues will be in focus at the CFA conference next month and the hope is that it will be a step towards to finding better sources of money that will not rack up more debt.