China skirting African corruption in direct aid – As China’s strategic interest in East Africa grows, instead of simply giving cash as foreign aid, China prefers to pay Chinese companies to improve infrastructure, bypassing local politicians and construction crews. Just last month, Chinese workers built two towers in Kampala, in what “aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.” This new model could help to “cut the risk of aid scandals like the one that rocked the $22.6 billion Global Fund.” (AP, Rodney Muhumuza)
World Bank: Break Down African Trade Barriers – In a new World Bank Report, De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Integration, they say that regional trade barriers are preventing African countries from earning billions of dollars. Combining the individual country markets would “bring a lot of opportunities for people to trade across borders, but (also) to exploit the benefits of a much larger market.” The World Bank is expected to increase funding to regional trade integration projects for 2012. (VOA, Joe DeCapua)
Oil Corruption May Threaten Angola, Nigeria, Stifling Growth, Agency Says – According to the anti-corruption group, Global Witness, Africa’s largest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola, “have granted stakes in oil fields to companies that may be acting as fronts for government officials, stifling development in both countries.” While oil exports have generated billions of dollars for both countries, the “misappropriation of public funds by corrupt officials remains one of the main causes of poverty.” Both countries must do more to increase transparency and decrease corruption to fight the “resource curse.” (Bloomberg, Henrique Almeida)
African Farming Needs Business Approach, Nigera’s Adesina Says – At the “Feeding the World” meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, Nigerian Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Ayo Adesina, explained that “we must begin to take agriculture in Africa as a business,” and not merely a social sector. He described the need to leverage investments to fix the infrastructure gap and “get smart about new instruments to finance agriculture.” (Bloomberg, Rudy Ruitenberg)
