African policymakers, development institutions, and leading economists have officially launched the African Chief Economists Network (ACE-Network). Announced during the 2026 African Economic Conference (AEC) in Abidjan, this continent-wide platform is designed to fortify evidence-based policymaking and provide coordinated, home-grown solutions to increasingly complex global economic challenges.
The launch comes at a critical juncture. African nations are currently grappling with severe global headwinds, including intensifying geopolitical tensions, global trade fragmentation, severe climate shocks, mounting debt pressures, and a rapidly shifting international financial architecture.
The three-day conference, held under the theme “Strengthening Africa’s Geopolitical Agency and Trade Resilience in a Multipolar World,” was hosted by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The event drew massive engagement, with more than 4,000 participants connecting virtually, reflecting a sharp, continent-wide interest in reclaiming economic policy leadership.
In a landmark achievement for African policy leadership, Senior Vice-President Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, speaking on behalf of African Development Bank Group President Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, hailed the establishment of the ACE-Network as a milestone that will significantly enhance Africa’s capacity to design practical, evidence-based policy solutions.
Akin-Olugbade emphasized that the diverse representation at the conference underscores how timely and vital the network is for the continent’s future, urging its members to move swiftly from academic debate to real-world action. She stressed that this is a big responsibility on their shoulders, and they expect to see clear results in the form of very effective decisions and actions that really move the needle for the men and women of this beautiful continent.
Rather than creating a rigid, bureaucratic institution, the ACE-Network will function as an informal, collaborative, and invitation-only platform. It aims to foster rapid knowledge-sharing, coordinate research, identify emerging economic risks, and draft unified policy recommendations for African governments.
The network’s membership will bring together the brightest minds in African economics, including chief economists from African development finance institutions and multilateral organizations, chief economic advisers to African presidents and prime ministers, deputy governors of central banks responsible for economic policy, heads of premier think tanks and deans of major economics faculties, and senior private-sector economists driving corporate strategy across the continent.
To maintain momentum without administrative drag, the network will meet physically each year on the sidelines of the African Economic Conference, alongside quarterly virtual sessions and rapid-response emergency meetings during major global or regional economic shocks.
Presenting the network’s strategic vision for elevating knowledge sovereignty and soft infrastructure, AfDB Chief Economist and Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, Prof. Kevin Urama, argued that Africa’s window to influence reforms in the international financial architecture is limited. To make their voices heard, African nations must build stronger domestic knowledge systems.
Urama introduced the concept of investing in “soft infrastructure”—which includes data systems, research, and robust knowledge institutions—to complement the continent’s massive physical investments in transport and energy.
The core priorities of the ACE-Network include strengthening knowledge sovereignty to reduce dependency on external economic models, increasing domestic investment in research and technological innovation, enhancing early-warning systems to detect and mitigate external financial shocks, and ensuring economic analysis directly reflects the ground realities of African economies.
Bridging the gap from theory to high-impact policy, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa Chief Economist Dr. Raymond Gilpin described the network as a “unified powerhouse of African intellectuals” capable of narrowing the historical gap between economic research and public policy.
According to Gilpin, the network’s expertise will be crucial in helping countries mobilize domestic capital, accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and convert Africa’s unprecedented demographic growth into long-term prosperity. He noted that the Africa Chief Economists Network will be an engine room that designs creative solutions necessary for Africa to attain the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Echoing this sentiment, Dr. Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), pointed out that today’s interconnected crises require collective economic intelligence. She stated that no country, regardless of its size or resources, can effectively navigate this environment alone, adding that the network’s ultimate test will be whether it improves the lives and resilience of regular citizens.
Representing the OECD, Ida McDonnell, head of the Development Research Unit, concluded that modern challenges—ranging from debt and climate finance to industrial policy—can no longer be treated in isolation. By integrating these issues into a unified African perspective, the ACE-Network will help reduce policy duplication and elevate Africa’s voice in global debates.
With vast renewable energy resources, critical minerals, the world’s youngest population, and the massive potential of the AfCFTA, Africa possesses distinct comparative advantages. Through the ACE-Network, the continent’s economic leaders hope to finally turn these structural advantages into sustained, inclusive, and self-determined economic growth.
