ACET Blog

China’s role in Africa is the subject of intense debate on the continent and elsewhere. Of particular interest is the effect of Chinese aid models to African countries, a contentious issue for many reasons.  That impact depends on Africans. The predominant complaints around Chinese aid in Africa are that it is focused on mineral rich countries, turns a blind eye to good governance, lacks transparency, is overwhelmingly tied to Chinese economic interests and puts African countries in dange....

The increase in commodity prices is an opportunity to improve the welfare of African farmers. One way to do this is by reorganizing domestic supply chains. Cash crops, such as cocoa, cotton, coffee and tobacco, are a major source of export revenue for a large number of Sub-Saharan African countries and the livelihood basis for millions of rural households who grow those crops. Generally speaking, poor farmers in the cash crop sector should stand a better chance to rise out of poverty—on t....

Recent FDI trends across Africa are encouraging. For the first time since 1970 when data became available, FDI inflows to Africa reached almost US$20 billion in 2001 and has continued to increase, hitting US$72 billion in 2008. But most FDI flows into the natural resources sector. This has to change. African countries should influence the distribution of FDI in favour of sectors with greater effects on employment and technology transfer. Over the years, most of the top 10 FDI recipients i....