Across the world, diplomatic friction has accelerated, with devastating impact on Africa and its Public Finances. Within Africa too, there is war and conflict, particularly within its fragile states. Pan-African solidarity requires citizen trust and maintenance of country sovereignty.

The freedom of movement that people are allowed - to travel, reside and work within a country, is inextricably linked with the imperative for economic growth and development. This imperative may induce a wide-ranging continuum of geopolitical responses - from regional integration to national isolationism.

Central to xenophobic and other systemic political discrimination crises is failure to provide public health, education and other public services, reduce unemployment, reduce corruption, ensure efficient law enforcement system and safety, etc. Scapegoating people from other countries or cultures does not resolve fundamental socioeconomic and institutional problems. What it does lead to is further problems and costs, such as displacement and emergency citizen repatriation.

CABRI’s Vision is:

An African continent where public financial resources are mobilised and managed with transparency and accountability to drive efficient and effective service delivery, sustainable economic growth and development.

CABRI’s mission is to empower the governments across Africa. Our work remains firmly focused on improving the Public Financial Management (PFM) systems, policies, and practices that resolve public service delivery problems.

This quarter marked an important milestone across many areas of work - a valuable opportunity to reflect on the progress made in strengthening our country support. The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Regional Institutional Support Project for Public Financial Governance Phase II (RSPFG II) has now concluded after four years. Importantly, participant evaluations point to strong capability gains across the 20 AfDB-funded events attended by roughly 779 officials: 94.6% of respondents reported acquiring new knowledge relevant to their functions, 96.2% rated the content as relevant to their work, and 96.9% of participants confirmed they had gained new skills.

As we enter negotiations for a successor phase, we are proud of what a modest team accomplished in a short timeframe:

• Eight country-teams — Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea (twice), Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius and Nigeria — completed the full 12-month Building Public Finance Capabilities (BPFC) programme, driving reforms to tackle locally identified problems of capital investment and country debt. The BPFC programme also generated credible, on-the-ground change. According to field interviews, Guinea improved budget execution in priority sectors, alongside the clearance of five years of delayed lois de règlement. Mauritius institutionalised more regular, iterative and adaptive capital expenditure monitoring and oversight across all ministries. Similar practice changes were confirmed in Lesotho, Nigeria and Kenya. The programme also catalysed additional funding from partners such as the Global Fund and EU-BMZ, both extending CABRI’s approaches and methodologies into new domains.
• Four policy dialogues addressed critical fiscal pressures, that is: building sustainable public debt management and climate resilience; managing contingent liabilities in an increasingly complex fiscal environment; strengthening health facility autonomy for more responsive local healthcare; and adopting a value-driven approach to agriculture to promote economic growth and youth employment.
• CABRI knowledge products continued to inform evidence-based fiscal practice:
  • The African Debt Monitor covered 17 countries and we convened various network engagements of public debt managers.
  • The Budgets in Africa database has been updated and expanded to include 52 countries. Additionally, a pilot AI and machine learning extraction tool has been introduced, significantly enhancing the speed and efficiency of accessing, comparing, and analysing budget documents, expenditure trends, and fiscal consolidation pathways across the continent.
  • The 2025 Budget Practices and Procedures Survey provided valuable insights into how national budgeting processes have evolved over the years and whether these have yielded functional fiscal outcomes.

The Gates Foundation’s support for Digital PFM, has now concluded after two years. Phase II of Digital PFM was the culmination of our digital reform agenda. By videographic documentation of country Digital PFM Reform Stories, CABRI created a peer‑learning tool that captures both the technical (public finance management and IT) as well as the human resource management dimensions of digital reform implementation. The Stories are complemented by knowledge products such as a policy brief and blogs, drawing significant lessons extended well beyond the workshop event setting.

Key accomplishments:

• Three identified countries provided comprehensive accounts of their digital PFM reform journeys - Kenya, Rwanda, and Liberia, each demonstrating homegrown innovation and practical solutions to entrenched challenges.
• Building on the Stories, CABRI convened a regional peer-learning workshop - “Digital PFM in Action”, bringing together officials from 16 countries, civil society, academia, and development partners.
• The workshop broadened the documentation of digital PFM reforms across Francophone and Anglophone countries, highlighting diverse pathways such as Benin’s integrated SIGFP system, Côte d’Ivoire’s programme-based budgeting, the Central African Republic’s modernization of tax collection, and South Africa’s e-procurement reforms. Malawi and Ghana’s journeys further underscored the risks of overreliance on imported technologies, reinforcing the need for locally tailored solutions.

These results reflect the strength of the CABRI network’s institutional approach and reaffirm our commitment to locally driven, peer-learning methods that strengthen the link between PFM capability and service delivery outcomes. This has advanced Governments’ accountability, improved efficiency, and promoted inclusive growth, firmly positioning CABRI as a continental leader in building transparent and resilient public finance systems.

All African countries that are not yet members of CABRI are eligible and are invited to contact us at [email protected] so that you may join formally. Other stakeholders within the broader Public Finance Management community are also welcome to join us and our current partners.