KAPSARC holds East Africa Workshop in Nairobi

Significant recent discoveries of oil and gas, as well as the prospect for further finds, are expected to transform the economic and political landscape in East Africa. Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda stand poised to produce substantial quantities of oil and gas; increasing exports, government revenues, FDI and economic growth.KAPSARC’s workshop in Nairobi, Kenya on August 19-20, 2014 entitled East Africa Natural Resource Discoveries and the Dynamics of Economic Development, discussed this topic, including issues such as how revenues from oil and gas could be managed to maximize societal benefit and the challenges of creating local content in extractive industries.The workshop brought together experts from diverse backgrounds, including several policymakers from the Ministry of Finance in Mozambique, Ministry of Planning and Development in Mozambique, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in Uganda and the Ministry of Finance in Uganda.Representatives from several academic, non-government and commercial organizations also participated, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Finance Corporation, Jacaranda Holdings in Kenya, and IHS Country Risk.Leading academics from the University of Port Harcourt, Addis Ababa University, Stanford University and Southern Methodist University also contributed.KAPSARC organized this workshop in collaboration with the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Analysis, the Economic Policy Research Center in Uganda, the Economic and Social Research Foundation in Tanzania and the Centro de Estudos Económicos de Gestão in Mozambique.