90. At the monetary Won level, policy co-ordination would entail the maintenance of an appropriate exchange rate for each national currency with the common unit and the appropriate application of monetary policies to safeguard the -tability of the national
currencies. .,.
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-OBJECTIVE 7: . To provide technical assistance and advisory services to member States on fiscal, taxation and budgetary policies and on the development of appropriate domestic and monetary institutions to deal with effective . ,. ,
management and utilization of financial resources for
socio-economic development.
91. The need of adequate technical support for national monetary authorities such as ministries of finance and central banks has
always been felt by African countries, both in intra-African relations and in Africa's dealings with the developed countries.—AMF,.as a development financing institution, can.also be designed as an effective means of providing technical assistance, which might take . the form of advisory services during the preparation of feasibility.
studies on money and finance or in developing or redesigning national fiscal and monetary policies and institutions.—77/
92. The African Monetary Fund, in collaboration with existing institutions, could also offer training for personnel in banking and financial matters and in monetary negotiations with external institutions. Another aspect of its technical assistance programmes would be to facilitate balanced regional growth, ensure monetary
stability and monitor exchange rates as discussed in objective (2). above.
It mipht also offer advisory services in taxation policy, budgetary control, fiscal policy and exchange-control regulations.
93. It would be important for the African Vonetary Fund to enjoy . the confidence of African countries, and to receive from them enough economic data to be able to analyze obstacles to economic
76/ ■ See also IMF, Technical Assistance Services of the . International Monetary Fund (Pamphlet Series No. 30),
(Washington D.C., 1979).
77/ One of the major problems facing Africa is the lack of a pool of expertise in money and bankingwhich can be made readily
available to member States when the need arises.
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-development and integration and suggest viable reformation and -...*
stabilisation programme's. Its members could thus analyse their
economic situations and act to correct any imbalances before a crisis
was reached. ■ , . ...
94. In addition to oursuing more stable prowth on ti>.e basis of its own research findings, the African Monetary Fund should, by virtue of its familiarity with and proximity to Africa's problems, become the:
institution to which foreign investors turned, automatically for ,,;;
information. . An important element.of the Fund's,functions as a
reference institutional would therefore be to define guidelines and general rules of.monetary conduct to assist its member countries>inharmonizing their positions in the, international monetary and financial
forums. .-■ , . , .
95. The Fund could also be expected to encourage its members to apply appropriate stabilization policy measures ("demand management and
supply-side policies} to reduce their external imbalances. In this .-role, it would do the necessary research to identify appropriate. . ■,, adjustment policies for each country and ensure that they were r an consistent with the promotion of intra-African trade. -: ...
96.. The variations in exci>an^e-cor.trol legislation and practices among African countries are mainly due to differences in their balance-of-payments situations, styles of financial and economic management, and
financial arranpencnts ard obligations to other countries. These problems are, r#a2 and crnslex, and in consenuence tTic Qfricnn ...
Monetary Fund, in harmonizing exchange-control legislation and :\:
practices, mipht well take a.subrejrional approach as the first step towards a continent-wide system. It could thus take advantage of existing economic integration schenes which include mechanisms for the liberalization of exchange-cp.nt.ro 1 legislation and practices.
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-OBJECTIVE 8: To.co-ordinate and harmonize the position of member I States in international negotiations on monetary and
■ t. financial issues so as to maximize their common .. . ... interests and to contribute more effectively to the
.... ... solutions of the world's monetary problems.'
97. Marmonisinp the positions and interests of African countries, especially in their dealings with external factors and institutions, is BH important objective of the AKF. Past negotiations in UNCTAD, GATT, the World Bank and IWF, and even the talks on the ACP-EEC Lome Conventions, seem to indicate that the North-South Oialogue has pround to a halt.—■ The failure of UNCTAD VI to address Africa's monetary problems is another sign that the dialogue has collapsed.
98. Various reasons have been put forward for this, some of which were discussed in some detail in Chapter I. Intensive efforts have been;
made at different levels to review the North-South dialogue and make it really work. The proposals put forward below may be regarded as additions or refinements to proposals already made in the many studies and treatises produced on this patter.
99. The collapse in the monetary dialogue can be attributed directly to the lack of penuine consultative machinery at international level based on the principle of "universality1". Developing African
countries often, justifiably, complain about not feeing consulted on decisions by the industrialized nations which adversely affect them.
The creation of an African *-k>netary Fund would afford a fresh chance to improve the mechanist1 for consultation with developing nations on all aspects of world economic issues, including international trade,
78/ See also North-South Dialogue: A Programme for Survival, the Report of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues under the Chairmanship of Willy Brandt (Pan-World Books, London, 1950).
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