President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called for an equitable access to capital for developing countries.
The president made the call while speaking at the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement at the weekend in Kampala, Uganda.
President Tinubu, who was represented by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, said it would provide the much needed resources for development, thus solving some of the most pressing challenges in the world today.
The president, in a statement on Saturday by Mrs Folasade Boriowo, the Director of Information, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, noted that the developing world was not looking for sympathy or begging but fair and equal opportunities.
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Chaired by the Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, this year’s summit was attended by many presidents and heads of government.
The Non-Aligned Movement is the largest gathering of countries, second only to the United Nations General Assembly.
President Tinubu noted that the combined population of the 120 countries that make up the Non-Aligned Movement is over 4.4 billion or about 55 per cent of the world’s population, yet the total financial resources available to all these countries are much less than that of some countries.
The total budgetary resources for the 120 countries is less than $3.5trillion, which is less than the budget of the United States alone.
“Whereas the aggregate public debt of less than $6.6trillion, mostly at higher interest rates and shorter tenor, is about one-sixth of one or a few developed countries,” he said.
President Tinubu also listed the challenges facing the world currently to include climate change, conflict and wars, terrorism and widening inequality.
