Vera Songwe, Chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, and former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, on the multiple crises facing African countries.
Songwe is co-chair of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Finance for Climate Action, a member of the Global Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Songwe was previously Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Recognized as one of Africa’s 100 most influential people in 2022 and recipient of the All Africa Continental Leadership Award, Songwe was named one of the nominees for Forbes Africa 50 Top Women in 2023. She recently co-authored a book entitled Regional Integration in West Africa: Is There a Role for a Single Currency? She has spent the last three years championing the cause for additional liquidity for emerging markets and the need for a new global financial architecture fit for the 21st century’s development challenges.