Measuring corruption in Africa

At the official launch of the fourth African Governance Report during the inaugural African Development week in Addis Ababa, the Minister of Finance, Hon Calle Schettwein said to achieve development objectives set out in Agenda 2063 and the Agenda 2030 on sustainable development goals, relevant stakeholders acknowledge the impetus to overcome bottlenecks and leakages in systems and institutions, while recognizing the need for transparency, accountability and equity.
The minister addressed the AU Conference of Ministers of economy, finance and planning and said the problem of corruption is one such leakage, which if not persistently addressed, will continue to undermine the achievement of development gains and outcomes, shortchanging aspirations for the inclusive development of Africa through structural transformation.
“Across the continent, we are witnessing mixed results in various aspects of economic governance. Taken as a whole, the quality of public administration, budget and financial management systems is lagging behind that of other global regions,” he added.
According to the minister this situation can worsen, especially noting the current mixed results in overall governance performance, in a manner that threatens the very foundation and also efficacy of this driver of structural transformation.
Schettwein said that the African Governance Report IV focuses on the importance of accurately measuring corruption and enhances and reemphasise an understanding of the international dimension of corrupt acts and practices, and it highlights the compounding implications for fostering Africa’s structural transformation, in a globalised world. Furthermore he said the Report also builds on other editions of the African Governance Reports (AGRs I, II, and III), which all continue to contribute to, and influence better and increased understanding of the various challenges that corruption poses, while making proposals on how to counter them, for the African context.