What We’re Reading 5/12/09

May 12th, 2009 10:23 AM UTC
By Steve Wilson

Foreign Policy—Africa’s missing billions
A researcher writing in Foreign Policy magazine takes a look at how tax havens in Europe and the Caribbean cost African nations billions in tax revenue. Each year, more than $1 trillion exits in developing countries, and more than $140 billion of comes from Africa. That’s almost four times as much as the continent gets in official development aid, says the writer. Although largely floating under the radar of public awareness, the writer argues that these havens are “at the heart of Africa’s resource curse.”

BBC—Children sanitation alert issued
A new report highlights what it calls the inequity between the diseases that are killing children and the amounts of money being spent on them. The report, by the group WaterAid, says that dehydration and diarrhea caused by poor sanitation is killing many more children than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, although global spending on HIV/AIDS in particular hugely outweighs the amounts spent on providing better sanitation.

Financial Times—African Development Bank tries to triple capital base
The African Development Bank is seeking to triple its capital base to accommodate surging demand for emergency loans from African states and businesses hit by falling export income and sharp declines in foreign investment and remittances. Donald Kaberuka, the AfDB’s president, will put the plans to the bank’s annual general assembly in Dakar this week in one of the first tests of developed countries’ commitments to financing an economic rescue package for Africa.

Reuters—Angola, US to sign trade agreement next week
Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer, and the United States will sign a trade and investment deal next week to boost bilateral trade, the U.S. ambassador to Angola said today. Angola is the United States’ third-largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly because of its petroleum exports, while U.S. exports to Angola consist mainly of industrial goods and services such as oilfield and mining equipment.

Afrique en ligne (Kenya)—USAID project to bolster economy, food security in East Africa
The U.S. Agency on Aid and Development, USAID, has launched the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion (COMPETE) project in Kenya, aimed at enhancing economic growth and food security in Eastern and Central Africa. The project aims to stimulate trade and competitiveness by reducing trade barriers, improving market access and furthering regional integration in Eastern Africa by reducing clearance times for goods, removing unnecessary red tape and lobbying for policy changes that will support increased transit efficiency in the region,” a Kenyan business group said.

-Steve Wilson

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