What We’re Reading 3/8/10

Mar 8th, 2010 10:51 AM UTC
By Steve Wilson

Wall Street Journal–IMF Director Praises Africa’s Fiscal Policies
Africa’s economic engines are emerging quickly from a global recession, powering better-than-expected growth for the bulk of the continent, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director said. Dominique Strauss-Kahn predicted growth for sub-Saharan Africa will hit 4.5% this year. The IMF attributed the improved forecast to the positive performance of South Africa and Nigeria, two of the continent’s biggest economies. Still, the sub-Saharan region is growing at slower rates than before the global slump, and the IMF fears that efforts to reduce poverty will be undermined. For the first time in a decade, per-capita incomes declined on average across the region in 2009.

Politico—Shaping a better future for women (op-ed by Dana Perino)
Dana Perino writes today in Politico about International Women’s Day, focusing on her recent trip to Ghana and Sierra Leone with ONE. She writes, “The hardest part of returning from Africa is pinpointing what I can do to help improve the lives of the women I met. I believe that, as an American woman, I can help bring opportunity to women in the developing world by spreading their stories and urging our country’s lawmakers to make smart investments — like those undertaken by the women in Ghana. From what I have seen, our aid money is being well-spent. They stretch every dollar, spending in innovative ways. That’s why I repeatedly return to Africa, and why I am participating in Women ONE2ONE with the ONE Campaign.”

Roll Call—Advocates Want to Cancel Haiti’s Loans
The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call writes that ONE and other groups are pleading with Members of Congress and the Obama administration to quickly forget about nearly $1 billion in debt owed by earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy last week cleared a proposal formally asking the Treasury Department to flex its substantial weight with the IMF and other lenders to cancel Haiti’s outstanding financial obligations and provide grants to help the nation rebuild. Tom Hart, ONE’s director of government relations, is quoted: “At this point, it is very difficult to tell when Haiti would be able economically to repay these old loans. But I do not believe it is difficult to tell whether Haiti should pay them back. Haiti plainly needs a fresh start, a chance to rebuild, and will need every dollar over many years to develop. Its current loans were made based on assumptions no longer relevant and intended for projects that are no longer viable.”

AFP—China defends growing links with Africa
China rejected foreign concerns over its growing energy links with Africa yesterday, saying it benefits African nations by bringing badly needed trade and infrastructure development. “I have noticed that in the international community there are some who do not want to see the development of Sino-African relations and always make an issue of China-Africa energy cooperation,” Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. “The fact is that China’s oil imports from Africa account for only 13 percent of Africa’s total exports, while Europe and the United States account for more than 30 percent,” he told reporters.

Reuters—Global climate battle plays out in World Bank
The United States and Britain are threatening to withhold support for a $3.75 billion World Bank loan for a coal-fired plant in South Africa, expanding the battleground in the global debate over who should pay for clean energy. The opposition by the bank’s two largest members has raised eyebrows among those who note that the two advanced economies are allowing development of coal-powered plants in their own countries even as they raise concerns about those in poorer countries. While the loan is still likely to be approved on April 6 by the World Bank board, it has revealed the deep fissures between the world’s industrial powers and developing countries over tackling climate change.

Reuters—Haiti rebuilding plan expected this week
The first draft of a Haiti rebuilding plan is expected this week. A team of 150 Haitian government officials and 90 international experts are racing to submit a blueprint of the plan to the government by Friday, the World Bank said. The document will then be assessed at a meeting of international technical experts in the Dominican Republic on March 16 before a donor conference in New York on March 31.

Politico—Women and girls are key to security (op-ed by Ann Lewis and Susan Molinari)
Political veterans from opposite sides of the aisle, Ann Lewis and Susan Molinari, write today that investing in women and girls in the developing world is important to U.S. national security. They write, “There’s a connection between America’s security and smart, effective development. Encouraging education, economic opportunity and good governance helps to build a more secure and safer world. Investment in women and girls’ education and empowerment is increasingly recognized as a linchpin to advancing social, economic and political progress in most poor countries.”

AFP—Burden of AIDS hits Zimbabwe’s women hardest
A recent study by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition looking at the living conditions for women with HIV in developing countries finds that women often suffer doubly, not only from the disease, but from abuse from their spouses and isolation by their communities. The study also finds that even efforts to prevent the spread of HIV can pose problems for women, who are often reluctant to tell anyone that they have the disease.

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