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Casablanca – At the launch of the second edition of the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) today, Morocco’s Economy and Finance Minister, Nadia Fettah, stressed the need to bring about a radical change in the financial model of the African continent.
“Financial sovereignty is not a slogan; it is a necessity, a collective duty, a passing of the torch between African generations,” she said at the gathering of over 1,200 senior delegates from 40 countries.
This year’s AFIS takes place amid a national moment of celebration in response to the UN Security Council’s historic decision to accept Morocco’s Autonomy Plan in the Sahara.
Fettah praised this diplomatic achievement in her speech, framing it within King Mohammed VI’s pan-African vision that seeks a more balanced international financial architecture.
“Africa can no longer be the continent of promises but the continent of proof,” she continued, pointing to fast-growing African economies like Morocco’s—based on fiscal responsibility, a proactive energy transition strategy, as well as the recent recovery of its Investment Grade status from Standard & Poor’s. Morocco’s growth, she noted, is expected to be 4% in 2025, as foreseen in a report by the IMF.
“Africa saves over $500 billion a year, yet according to the BAD, less than 10% of that is invested on the continent,” said the minister, who called on African countries to translate these savings into real financial independence by optimizing regional integration.
She added that initiatives such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Exchange Linkage Project (AELP) mark important steps toward greater financial unity.
Fettah outlined three key levers: trust, to strengthen confidence among states, regulators, and investors through clear rules and stable governance; interoperability, to better connect payment systems and harmonize financial regulations across the continent; and audacity, the courage to design financial tools by Africans and for Africa.
She recommended greater use of regional guarantee schemes, shared risk insurance, as well as the development of African green bonds.
Concluding her speech, Fettah summarized a three-step agenda that needs to be followed in the transformation of the African continent—mobilizing domestic capital, financial integration, as well as making sustainability a part of the development agenda.
“Africa does not need to be saved,” Fettah stated. “It must simply mobilize its own strength—that of her institutions, her women, her men, her youth, and her savings.”
