Online Reporter
Oliver Kazunga
Senior Reporter
AFRICAN countries could unlock up to US$760 billion annually by improving public expenditure efficiency, strengthening domestic resource mobilisation and deepening regional integration, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat said on Monday.
The projection comes as SADC intensifies efforts to strengthen its development financing model through the operationalisation of the bloc’s Regional Development Fund and broader reforms aimed at reducing dependence on external financing.
Addressing the SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment, and Peer Review Panel meeting in Harare last week, SADC executive secretary Mr Elias Magosi said African Development Bank (AfDB) studies showed that improving efficiency in public spending could significantly expand fiscal space and support long-term economic transformation.
“According to the African Development Bank (AfDB) studies, efficiency could unlock a whopping US$760 billion annually, expand fiscal space, reduce external dependence, and support Africa’s seven percent growth target for jobs, poverty reduction, and sustainable development,” he said.
Mr Magosi said the opportunity comes at a time when the region is facing tightening development finance conditions, rising debt vulnerabilities and increasing fiscal pressures, despite modest gains in economic performance.
He said adverse economic conditions and recurring external shocks had weakened fiscal positions across member States, with the regional fiscal deficit widening from 2,3 percent of GDP in 2024 to 3,8 percent in 2025.
“This deterioration in public finance underscores the fragility of the region’s recovery and highlights the limited fiscal space available to support sustained economic transformation.
“The growth trajectory remains narrow and uneven, driven largely by strong performance of only a few member States rather than broad-based regional expansion,” he said.
He added that the sustainability of recent gains was under threat from tightening development finance, rising debt risks and persistent disruptions in regional trade.
Zimbabwe, like several SADC member States, is also strengthening domestic resource mobilisation as external financing conditions tighten, with Government increasingly relying on tax revenues, mineral resources and improved public finance management to sustain development spending.
Mr Magosi said consolidating regional integration, resilience, domestic resource mobilisation and public expenditure efficiency was now critical to reducing vulnerability to external shocks.
He urged member States to accelerate ratification of the SADC Regional Development Fund, saying it remained central to mobilising resources for infrastructure development, industrialisation and regional integration.
“To date, only 10 member States have signed the agreement, and of these, only four—Angola, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—have ratified this instrument,” he said.
“In this regard, I once again encourage member States to accelerate ratification processes as continued delays risk slowing the operationalisation of the fund and, consequently, its ability to mobilise resources for regional infrastructure, the very industrialisation that we daily need, and socio-economic development.”
Speaking on behalf of President Mnangagwa, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said mounting global economic uncertainty reinforced the need for SADC countries to deepen regional cooperation and rely more on internally generated resources.
“We meet at a time when the global economic environment continues to test the resilience of our economies,” he said.
“Persistent inflation pressures, tighter financing conditions, climate-related shocks, food and energy vulnerabilities, public debt pressures, geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in global trade and investment flows, these will continue to affect our development prospects.”
He said these challenges underscored that regional cooperation was no longer optional, but essential for resilience and shared prosperity.
SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment chairperson Mr Enoch Godongwana said declining donor support, rising borrowing costs and geopolitical tensions had exposed the need for structural reforms in the region’s development finance system.
“What that means is that SADC calls for structural transformation in our development finance landscape.
“Beyond protecting critical sectors such as social sectors, there’s an urgent need to pilot more sustainable and diversified financing models, leveraging blended finance, Public-Private Partnerships and deeper private sector participation to offset declining donor flows,” he said.
