NEPAD Today - 01 May 2013

01 May 2013

Editor
Yinka Adeyemi
Assistant Editor
Meseret Arega

How to make the most of Africa’s commodities

African countries have a real opportunity to capitalize on their resource endowments and high international commodity prices, as well as on opportunities from changes in the global economy to promote economic transformation through commodity-based industrialization and to address poverty, inequality and unemployment. If grasped, these opportunities will help Africa promote competitiveness, reduce its dependence on primary commodity exports and associated vulnerability to shocks and emerge as a new global growth pole. This is the verdict from ECA’s Economic Report on Africa 2013.

This report argues that the question is not whether Africa can industrialize by ignoring its commodities, but rather how it can use them to add value, new services and tech nological capabilities—although this may not apply to all African countries and should not be the only way African resource-rich countries industrialize. Making the most of Africa’s commodities requires appropriate development planning frameworks and effective industrial policies that are evidence based and take into account what influences linkage breadth and depth, as well as the structural and country-specific linkage drivers.
Download ERA 2013: http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/publications/unera_report_eng_final_web.pdf
Source: Special to ECA

African Financial Markets Initiative launches website on African local currency bond markets

The African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI) launched its website www.africanbondmarkets.org on May 6, 2013. The AFMI website is designed to be a knowledge management and information dissemination tool to raise awareness and understanding of African local currency bond markets.
There are three types of data and information to be disseminated through the website: (i) dynamic high frequency data from Thomson Reuters; (ii) macroeconomic debt and governance indicators, updated on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis; and (iii) data and information on the bond market environment of each country, updated annually.
Not only will the website provide data and information, but will also provide a platform for AFMI stakeholders and development partners to engage in debates on a range of bond market development issues.
The website will first be available in English to users; while development work on the French version is expected to be operational by the end of the second semester of 2013.
Source: AfDB

Remittances into Africa soar to $40 billion, study shows

Remittances represent a rising source of finance for the continent and hold immense potential as drivers of economic growth and development. A recent study, Leveraging Migration for Africa: Remittances, Skills, and Investments, conducted by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the World Bank shows that remittance flows into Africa reached US $40 billion in 2010 and have quadrupled since 1990. African remittances currently account for 2.6 per cent of GDP, a figure that in some countries equals or even exceeds both foreign direct investment and aid.
Remittance-receiving households are usually associated with reductions in poverty, increased household consumption, greater investment in human and physical capital, and less vulnerability from economic and natural shocks. Reducing the costs of remittances and maximizing their impact on development is a key objective for the AfDB.
The AfDB, through its Migration and Development Fund, also supports support local initiatives and those from the diasporas aimed at improving knowledge of remittances, reducing the costs of transfers, optimizing the use of the resources transferred, and supporting local development in migrant home countries.
The Africa Remittances and Money Transfer Forum will take place from June 6-7, 2013 at the Palace of the National Assembly, in Praia, Cape Verde. The forum aims at developing new strategies and policies to use remittances as drivers for economic growth and poverty reduction.
Source: AfDB

A production of the RCM-Africa Secretariat, AU and NEPAD Support Team, Capacity Development Division (CDD),
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Director: Adeyemi Dipeolu
Email: ecanepad@uneca.org