Algeria Calls for Fairer Global Development Financing System at UN Forum in New York

The Algerian Minister of Finance, Abdelkrim Bouzred, urged from New York the adoption of a new approach to development financing. This approach would enable international financial institutions to fully assume their responsibilities and overcome the current situation where countries bear the majority of financing risks even when results are weak, a situation the minister described as “unjust and inequitable.” The minister was speaking during his participation in the United Nations Forum on Financing for Development, held from April 20 to 24 in New York, where he took part in the general debate on the current challenges facing the international development financing system.

Bouzred stressed that “the challenge is no longer the amount of financing, but its effectiveness,” noting that “developing countries continue to face the same difficulties despite multiple financing mechanisms.” He stated that this calls for “a revision of the implementation mechanisms of the international financial system.” He also emphasized “the need for any reform to ensure stronger participation of developing countries in decision-making, to fairly reflect the international balance.” Bouzred further reviewed Algeria’s sustained efforts in supporting international solidarity through the cancellation of debt for several countries and the provision of financial assistance to the most vulnerable nations. He also highlighted the establishment of the Algerian Agency for International Cooperation for Development, which has an initial budget of USD1 billion to support development projects, particularly across Africa.

Concluding his speech, the minister reaffirmed “the need to move from a logic of financing to a logic of results, and from unilateral responsibility to shared responsibility, to strengthen the international financial system’s effectiveness and equity.”