Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan: Africa must produce more of what it consumes
Senegalese President Macky Sall and Nigerien Mohamed Bazoum, at the Africa CEO Forum, in Abidjan, June 14, 2022. REUTERS - LUC GNAGO
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
The Africa CEO Forum is particularly dedicated to economic sovereignty in this time of crisis.
While global growth is expected to fall from 5.7% in 2021 to 2.9% in 2022, on the macro-economic level, sub-Saharan Africa is currently doing well, with a growth forecast of 3. 7% this year, according to World Bank figures.
But in view of a crisis that could last several years, the continent must transform its economy.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Pierre Pinto
Many specialists agree on the fact that if the African economy resists, it must fundamentally transform itself to be less dependent on imports.
And transform rapidly, particularly in the agri-food and energy sectors.
“
In Africa we lose a good part of the harvest every year.
If we tell ourselves that we can no longer lose these 20 or 30% on the field due to a lack of electricity or cold chains, that will help,
remarks the economist Lionel Zinsou.
If we reduce these losses through efforts to invest in infrastructure from the next campaigns, from 2023 we will have answers to our shortages.
But banks and central banks need to do their job as they did during the pandemic.
“, adds the former Prime Minister of Benin.
The Covid has been an indicator of the responsiveness and resilience of many African economies.
According to Deloitte, because of these qualities, African economies are again attractive to business leaders and investors.
This is also the opinion of Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's development institution focused on the private sector in emerging countries.
Any crisis is an opportunity to structurally transform the situation.
There is potential for economic transformation of African countries by increasing the added value created on the continent by creating value chains, taking advantage of the free trade area being implemented and ensuring that all the non-tariff barriers can be lifted [...] What is currently happening with vaccines shows that when there is the political will, we can do unimaginable things [...] In areas such as food, such as the added value to be created around value chains, the continent can rebound.
Makhtar Diop
However, according to the World Bank, due to the combined damage of the pandemic and the war, the level of per capita income in developing countries will this year be almost 5% lower than the pre-Covid trend.
Hence the urgency to react both on the transformation of economies and on humanitarian assistance to the populations most vulnerable to inflation.
Climate and industrial development in Africa: "we are being punished", regrets Bazoum
In this economic context, how can Africa cope with the combination of food, security, inflationary and climate crises?
At the end of the Africa CEO Forum, a major meeting of the private sector in Africa, the Senegalese heads of state Macky Sall and Nigerien Mohamed Bazoum gave their solutions and pleaded for the continent.
Faced with the food crisis, the continent must develop its boreholes and irrigation networks, which requires long-term financing, which is too rare in Africa, deplored Macky Sall.
Fertilizers are also needed, the supply of which is disrupted by the war in Ukraine.
“
Africa must be able to obtain from all its partners, in particular the Western partners, that we find a solution as Europe has done for gas, with a mechanism.
That we have this mechanism that allows us, when we continue to import fertilizers or wheat from Russia, that we can make payment without difficulty.
if we don't have the fertilizer, it means that we will be at risk of starvation.
»
In addition to the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the security crisis in the Sahel, the two heads of state returned to international climate policies that penalize the continent.
Africa, which is bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change, is only responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions.
There is a gap between those who define these climate policies during the COPs and the realities on the African ground, estimates Mohamed Bazoum, President of Niger.
“
We will continue to fight.
We have fossil resources that must be exploited.
We would even be ready to go beyond these commitments, except that unfortunately, we do not have the capital to ensure that Niger can use its coal to produce electricity and consider its industrialization.
We have coal, but with these measures that are taken, there is no bank that is ready to commit.
We are punished.
»
600 million Africans do not have access to electricity.
We cannot condemn fossil fuels, argued Macky Sall.
► To read also:
Africa's energy transition is a concern, six months before COP27
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