Donald Kaberuka, who took over the post in September, said the short-term effects of high oil prices could be mitigated through windfall taxes in donor countries where companies were based, or a voluntary arrangement bet-ween oil majors. In an interview with the Financial Times, he indicated that the proposal would be discussed next week when African and donor-nation finance ministers meet at the banks invitation in Tunis, although it was not formally on the agenda. Mr Kaberuka, who was previously Rwandas finance minister and who received strong backing from the US and other leading donors for the bank post, said crude oil costs could otherwise wipe out the benefits of debt relief for some African countries. They needed help to adjust, as well as short-term support to plug balance of payments shortfalls. “We should all contribute. Oil companies should contribute a bit,” he insisted. The impact on non-oil producing African countries was uneven, and disproportionately heavy in some less-developed countries with limited energy needs. The November 22-23 ministerial meeting, the first of its kind organised by the bank, will focus primarily on infrastructure plans and practical details of debt write-offs promised by leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations at the Gleneagles summit in Scotland four months ago. The aim is to ensure that countries that have completed debt-relief transition programmes, inc-luding at least 14 in Africa, should see their debts to multilateral agencies wiped clean by July next year. The meeting signals a new determination by the AfDB to set the agenda for financing development on the continent. “What has been wrong is that it has not been very effective in terms of operational focus,” the 54-year-old Mr Kaberuka commented. The bank faced a particular challenge in comparison to its Latin American and Asian counterparts because a greater proportion of its members were reliant on concessional aid. It covered twice as many countries as the Inter-American Development Bank but had only about a third of the human and financial resources. Despite donor promises of sharp aid increases, he warned: “There will not be the big bang.” Scaling up international assistance beyond debt relief and humanitarian aid would take “a lot of imagination”, he said. He warned that current African growth of about 5 per cent a year was insufficient to reduce poverty. Outside oil and gas producing states, the rate was more like 3-4 per cent, barely enough to offset population expansion. Sustained growth of 7-8 per cent a year over 15 years was needed simply to return much of Africa to where it was in the 1960s. He expressed concern that next months World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong should at least keep momentum going towards improving market access and dismantling rich-country subsidies. “We absolutely cant afford a breakdown. We cant even afford a stalemate.” PIN/FINANCIAL TIMES