By Vivienne Russell | 26 March 2014

The International Monetary Fund has opened its fifth African technical assistance centre, providing training on public financial management and tax administration to nations in western Africa.

The centre, located in the Ghanaian capital Accra, will offer capacity building services to six countries in the region – Ghana, Cabo Verde, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.

Its work complements that offered by the existing centres located in Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon and Mauritius. Between them, the five centres serve all sub-Saharan African countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Antoinette Sayeh, director of the IMF’s Africa department, said: ‘This is an important day for capacity building in Africa.

‘The IMF launched this initiative with a vision: give access to all countries in sub-Saharan Africa to an IMF regional technical assistance centre. Today this vision is implemented.’

A team of international experts will provide capacity-building assistance, offering help on areas including PFM, financial sector supervision, monetary operations and payment systems oversight, tax and customs administration and macroeconomic statistics.

The centre is led by a co-ordinator and its activities are guided by a steering committee comprised of representatives from beneficiary countries, donors and the IMF.

Donors to the west Africa centre include Australia, Canada, China, Switzerland, the European Union and the African Development Bank. Ghana has also contributed.

But Sayeh said that other member countries would also be expected to make financial contributions. She said she hoped that, once its benefits became apparent, donations would be forthcoming.

‘Indeed, capacity-building assistance was critical for African countries to develop the strong institutions needed for implementing the macroeconomic policies conducive to sustained development,’ she said.