Een Big Bond voor Afrika

Apr 17, 2017 Nancy Birdsall , Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

LAGOS – De landen van het ten zuiden van de Sahara gelegen deel van Afrika hebben een cruciaal punt bereikt. Onder druk van een instorting van de grondstoffenprijzen en de economische inzinking van China is de groei van de regio in 2015 naar 3,4% teruggelopen – bijna 50% lager dan het gemiddelde percentage van de voorgaande vijftien jaar. Het geschatte groeicijfer voor 2016 is lager dan de bevolkingsgroei van ongeveer 2%, wat duidt op een inkrimping van het bbp per hoofd van de bevolking.

Duurzame economische groei is essentieel om de vooruitgang bij het terugdringen van de armoede, kindersterfte, ziekten en ondervoeding vast te houden. Het is ook de enige manier om voldoende goede banen te scheppen voor de aanstormende Afrikaanse jongerenpopulatie – de snelstgroeiende ter wereld. Gerd Müller, de Duitse minister voor Ontwikkelingszaken, zei op een recente persconferentie: “Als de Afrikaanse jeugd geen werk en geen toekomst kan vinden in eigen land, zullen het geen honderdduizenden maar miljoenen zijn die hun weg naar Europa zullen zoeken.”

Eén manier om de groei te ondersteunen en banen te creëren is samenwerking bij het plannen en ten uitvoer leggen van een enorme stijging van de investeringen in infrastructuur in heel Afrika. Met name publieke infrastructuur is belangrijk. Daartoe behoren snelwegen, bruggen en spoorwegen die producenten in door land omsloten gebieden verbinden met Afrika's stedelijke consumenten en externe markten; een omvangrijke transito- en internet-infrastructuur om meer commerciële activiteiten mogelijk te maken; en hoogspanningskabels die particulier gefinancierde centrales en elektriciteitsnetwerken op elkaar aansluiten.

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Nancy Birdsall

Writing for PS since 2013
7 Commentaries

Nancy Birdsall is President Emeritus and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Writing for PS since 2010
15 Commentaries

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former managing director at the World Bank and former finance minister of Nigeria, is Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and African Union Special Envoy on COVID-19. She is a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Global Public Leader at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

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Linus Mofor Apr 19, 2017

This is a wonderful idea for the big transformation we need on the continent. There is also another idea I have had for a very long time that I would like to seize this opportunity to request if Dr Ngozi and other African respected elders can take forward. It is the idea of the Africa Diaspora Infrastructure Fund. There are tens of millions of Africans in the West. It is safe to say at least 10 million of this Africans are of the disposition that if they lost 100 dollars while in the restaurant or any where for that matter every month the quality of their life will not change one bit. So if Dr Ngozi and our other leaders create within our bank (AfDB) and request Africans in the diaspora to voluntarily "lose" 100 dollars into it every month for the love of their continent those 10 million Africans will be generating a colossal 1 billion dollars a month for infrastructure development on the continent; money that could be borrowed by member states at a very low interest rate. Those Africans can feel comfortable that the trust fund at the bank is being overlooked by their respected elders. Added to the Big Bond would be transformational. What do you both think?
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Dare J Apr 18, 2017

Very good initiative. It is critical to have systemic structures in African countries that foster and deepen innovative financing for private infrastructure and the "Big Bond" for public infrastructure without political interference. In my Op-Ed last year, I made a case for a quasi-government Infrastructure Bank in Nigeria -- in this context, the bank would lead the "Big Bond". This could be replicated in other Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Op-Ed
http://thenationonlineng.net/infrastructure-bank-nigerias-path-sustainable-development/
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Peter Schaeffer Apr 17, 2017

“If the youth of Africa can’t find work or a future in their own countries, it won’t be hundreds of thousands, but millions that make their way to Europe.”

Australia and Israel have shown that navies and fences are an extremely cheap and effective way of stopping unwanted migrants. Of course, the nations of Africa could emulate China and develop their economies. In 1950, Africa was considerably richer (per-capita) than China. Now China is far ahead. Africa would do well to adopt China's policies and thereby improve the well-being of the people of Africa.
- Peter Schaeffer Apr 17, 2017
  
  ND, What country do you live in? Better yet, what planet do you live on? The United States has no border wall. A border wall has been proposed. We certainly don't have one so far. The U.S. does have fences in some places. They are quite successful in stopping illegals where they exist. Spain has built fences to protect its borders. As always they have been highly successful. Hungary has enjoyed terrific successes with its fences. Illegal entries have been reduced by more than 99%.
  
  The bottom line is easy. Fences world. Liberals hate them precisely because they work rather well. You can find an article about how fences work over at "‘Soccer field,’ once-busy border crossing, now quiet". Quote
  
  “It ended,” he said, “when they built the fence.”
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- Nathan Davis Apr 17, 2017
  
  The size and the population density of Israel and the fact that Australia is an island give them the ability to control immigration in a way that most countries cannot. A more apt example for Europe would be the United States, for whom a border wall has been an abject failure. Furthermore, we have seen how deadly mass immigration from North Africa and the near East via the Mediterranean can be. Development projects in Africa like the "Big Bond" stop immigration from happening on a scale that could be very destabilizing for origin, transit, and destination countries as well as incredibly deadly.
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