The African Natural Resources Center of the African Development Bank has launched a first Financial Modeling for the Extractive Sector (FIMES) project. The objective is to strengthen the mobilization of domestic resources, institutional capacities and economic resilience in countries in transition.

The African Development Bank's Extractive Sector Project aims to boost domestic resource mobilization in African countries in transition. The Bank has engaged a consortium to deliver the FIMES training modules. Representatives of the consortium of the Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development (FERDI) and Columbia University's Center on Sustainable Investment, present at the meeting, described the training, which will focus on the modeling of mining and oil rents, the political taxation and financial modeling for extractive projects. Other areas covered by the training are rent sharing between governments and extractive companies and emerging policy issues such as the low carbon transition on revenues from mining and oil projects. The training will allow participants to learn at their own pace and convenience.

According to Seydou Coulibaly, FIMES project manager, this is a first of its kind for the Bank and the African continent. Twenty policy makers in each regional member country will participate in the training, learning and knowledge exchange activities as direct national beneficiaries. At least 40% of beneficiaries are women. This multinational project financed by the Bank's Transition Support Facility targets countries such as Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.