By Dave Boyer
Money for a “Green New Deal in Africa” and a solar panel project for Central Asia are among the targets for the Trump White House as it aims to slash what it sees as a bloated U.S. foreign aid budget.
Continue reading “‘Green New Deal in Africa’ on Trump’s list of foreign aid cuts”
By Haleluya Hadero
Ethiopia’s parliament this week passed a bill to allow members of the Ethiopian diaspora, who have taken up nationalities in other countries, to invest, buy shares, and set up lending businesses in the country’s state-dominated financial sector.
It’s the latest step in a general push to liberalize the country’s economy. The government has previously said it will privatize Ethio Telecom, the state-owned telecommunication monopoly.
Continue reading “Ethiopia’s financial reforms hold promise for its diaspora business community”
Nick J. Danby
After two nefarious scrambles for Africa during the colonialism of the nineteenth-century and the Cold War in the twentieth century, another surge in foreign activity—another scramble—has affected Africa. With its exponential population and economic potential, governments and corporations from outside Africa have strengthened their relationships on the continent.
Continue reading “More than Just Investment: Why America Was Once So Popular in Africa”
By Jay Benson
Nigeria’s first diaspora bond, issued in 2017, was a resounding success. It raised $300 million for investment in infrastructure from Nigerians overseas and was oversubscribed by 130%. The government is now reportedly planning a second similar offering.
As many African countries attempt to raise development finance, diaspora bonds – which resemble other kinds of bonds but are targeted at citizens abroad – are highly appealing.
Continue reading “How bonds aimed at the diaspora can raise crucial funds for Africa”
By Edwin Naidu
Senior United States diplomat Tibor Nagy, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said his country is committed to strengthening ties on the African continent through stronger trade links and investment in higher education.
Nagy, the former vice-provost for international affairs at Texas Tech University in the US, spoke glowingly of the “enduring partnership between the United States and South Africa”.
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By Boureima Balima
African leaders launched a continental free-trade zone on Sunday that if successful would unite 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development.
Continue reading “Economic ‘Game Changer’? African Leaders Launch Free-Trade Zone”
By Landry Signé and Eric Olander
The official launch of the Trump Administration’s Prosper Africa program at the Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Mozambique on June 19 comes after months of policy talk about ramping up trade and investment between the United States and African countries. Prosper Africa aligns with the Trump administration’s Africa strategy, introduced by National Security Adviser John Bolton last December, which aims to promote prosperity, security, and stability in U.S.-Africa relations, and confirms the administration’s prioritization of trade and investment to reach those three objectives.
By Nick Westcott
Does President Donald Trump have a policy on Africa, and if so what? The answer to this question is both interesting and revealing.
President Trump does not seem to pay much attention to Africa. Apart from his well-publicised comments to a group of senators in January 2018 dismissing the whole of Africa as “shithole countries,” he has not said much about the continent.
Continue reading “The Trump administration’s Africa policy”
By Ed Royce and Robin Renee Sanders
Since the U.S. BUILD Act was signed into law last October, many people across Africa as well as members of the Africa Diaspora have been asking what this global initiative might do to help revitalize American engagement with the continent. The answer is: quite a lot!
The goal of BUILD or the — “Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act” – is exactly what the American private sector has long sought. BUILD does a number of positive things to boost the U.S.-Africa economic, business, and development relationship.
Continue reading “HOW THE BUILD ACT CAN INVIGORATE U.S. ECONOMIC TIES IN AFRICA”
A number of top US officials recently visited South Africa at the request of President Donald Trump as part of an investigation into the country’s land expropriation process.
The delegation, which included US Deputy Foreign Secretary John J. Sullivan, met with AgriSA, Grain SA, and ANC officials on Friday (15 March) to discuss how the land expropriation process may impact property rights in the country.
In a statement released on Monday, AgriSA outlined what was discussed in the meeting and the issues that were raised.
Continue reading “4 things discussed during the US land expropriation talks in South Africa”
While the Trump administration has very visibly made and modified plans to reduce U.S. military intervention in Syria and Afghanistan, it has quietly escalated the fight in Somalia. U.S. airstrikes in the North African nation are on the rise, The New York Times reported Sunday, and that higher pace of bombardment has contributed to increased civilian displacement and all the turmoil that comes with it.
This is a foreign policy failure in progress. If the last two decades of missteps in the Middle East and North Africa have demonstrated anything, it is that secretive wars of choice are prone to mission creep and rife with unintended consequences. Rather than expand, U.S. military intervention in Somalia should be shut down before it spirals into another needless generational conflict.
The United States has had some military presence in Somalia for the better part of three decades, and the current campaign began in 2007. But U.S. strikes were few—zero to three per year—until 2015, when former President Barack Obama started an upward trend the Trump team has continued. Last year, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) reported 47 strikes. The first two months of this year put us on track to triple that by December.
Continue reading “Escalation in Somalia Is a Foreign Policy Failure in Progress”
By Bolaji Samuel
The tension between the two economic giants in the world, China and the United States (US), might have a silver lining for Africa. The administration of President Donald Trump is set to increase investment into the continent, in a bid to counter the narrative that China’s influence in Africa is rising, while the US falls off with its “America first” approach.
President Trump signed the legislation, the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act, or the BUILD Act, into law in October 2018. It combines the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and other US agencies focusing on international economic development into a newly consolidated agency called the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
It is anticipated that the DFC will be operational in October 2019 and at that time the DFC will begin deploying US equity capital in African private equity.
The DFC expands OPIC’s budget from USD29 billion to USD60 billion and provides the DFC with the authority to make limited equity investments. Previously, OPIC was limited to debt investments.
An opinion piece by Herman J. Cohen former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (1989-1993), U.S. ambassador to Senegal and The Gambia (1977-1980), a National Security Council member (1987-1989) and a 38-year veteran of the Foreign Service.
President Trump likes to overturn his predecessor’s initiatives, but so far the US-Africa relationship has been defined by policy continuity—a rare bipartisan bright spot among domestic and foreign turmoil. Yet there are clouds on the horizon. Public statements by senior American officials, including President Trump himself, foreshadow potentially troubling moves which threaten to undermine decades of mutually beneficial relations.
The first half of President Trump’s term has been good news for Africa. His first Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, is an expert diplomat and the right man for the job. Work continues apace at President Obama’s two signature programs, Power Africa and Feed the Future; at George W. Bush’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, and at PEPFAR, the hugely successful U.S. initiative to fight HIV/AIDS. Every year, more African nations are taking advantage of unilateral free-trade privileges under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The military’s U.S. Africa Command continues to provide assistance and advisors to nations fighting Islamist terrorism and other threats to regional stability. These programs are working. But there are a few indications that the Trump administration could pull the rug out from underneath.
Continue reading “TRUMP MAY BE ABOUT TO UNDERMINE OBAMA’S AFRICA POLICY |”
Continue reading “Bridging the gap: Africa’s science landscape and the African diaspora”