The Africa Report — July-August 2017

W

hen president of the

African Development

Bank(AfDB)Akinwumi

Adesina hits his stride, he has

something of the preacher’s

oratory. “Think of a continent

thatwillhavethesamepopulation

as India and China taken togeth-

er by 2050. Think of a continent

with a rising middle class, rapid

urbanisationandthatwillhavethe

youngest population on earth by

2050,” thundered Adesina at the

AfDB’s annual meeting in May,

whichwasheldforthefirsttimein

India.“Thinkofacontinentwhere

consumer spending is projected

to reach $1.4trn in the next three

years and business-to-business

spending to reach $3.5trn in the

next eight years. Think of the con-

tinent that accounted for 30% of

global business and regulatory

reforms in 2016.”

Speaking at the opening cere-

mony of the AfDB annual general

meetings in Ahmedabad in the

Indian state of Gujarat, Adesina

was spelling out the stakes in

order to drum up cash. Africa’s

youth population will double to

840 million by 2050, and private

sector money is badly needed to

fill the investment gap. Moreover,

Adesina wants a bigger capital

base for the AfDB to meet its

ambitious financing targets.

While growth on the continent

dipped to 2.2% in 2016 – a low

unseen since the turn of the cen-

tury – it will rebound to 3.6% in

2017 and is set to reach that level

again in 2018.

The AfDB wants to be at the

heartof African growth.It hashad

a record year in 2016, disbursing

more than $11bn on projects and

programmes.

Taking the AfDB meetings to

India was no idle safari, and next

year’s meetings will be held in

Busan, South Korea. There is a

clear pivot to Asia in the AfDB

thinking, whichperhaps began in

2008, when the annual meetings

were held in Shanghai.

India’sPrimeMinisterNarendra

Modi was keen to emphasise

the cultural and historical links

between his country and the con-

tinent:fromthemanyIndiantrad-

ing families who set up on Africa’s

eastern seaboard to a common

heritage of British colonialism

and to Gandhi’s first steps in the

non-violent protest movement,

taken in South Africa.

“Our partnership is not con-

fined to government alone,” said

Modi. “India’s private sector is

at the forefront of driving this

impetus. From 1996 to 2016,

Africa accounted for nearly

one-fifth of Indian overseas

direct investments. India is the

fifth-largest country investing

in the continent, with invest-

ments over the past 20 years

amounting to $54bn.”

RICKETY BOATS

AndIndian-Africatradecontinues

to accelerate. Bilateral trade was

at$1bnin1995andgrewto$75bn

by2015.Andwhilethatrepresents

only half of the continent’s trade

with China, which was around

$160bn in 2015, trade with India

should reach $100bn by 2018

according to the AfDB.

This may also have greater

‘multiplier effects’ – economic

jargon for investment that drives

furtherinvestment–ifthatmoney

hits productive sectors like agri-

culture, the banner under which

the AfDB meetings were held.

“In Africa, for far too long the

farmers have been abandoned,”

intoned Adesina. “It’s like we

are deliberately putting them on

rickety boats and sending them

across the Mediterranean.”

AfDB

There’s gold in that dirt

The AfDB took to India in May to raise funds and call for

a long-overdue agricultural revolution, turning processing

into a cash cow and supporting ’agripreneurs’

A warm handshake between

AfDB president Adesina

and Prime Minister Modi

SAMPANTHAKY/AFP

2011-12

50,000

45,000

40,000

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0

2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

India’s exports to Africa

India’s imports from Africa

India’s trade with Africa(in $m)

SOURCE: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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