- Title: Africa development bank says risks to growth 'increasing by the day'
- Date: 19th August 2019
- Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VEHICLE TRAFFIC / BUILDINGS UNDER CONSTRUCTION PEDESTRIANS
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2019 13:27
- Keywords: African Continental Free Trade Area Akinwumi Adesina African Development Bank Brexit trade war
- Location: DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA / LAGOS, NIGERIA / MOMBASA, KENYA / NIAMEY, NIGER / ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- City: DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA / LAGOS, NIGERIA / MOMBASA, KENYA / NIAMEY, NIGER / ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Various
- Topics: Government/Politics,International Trade
- Reuters ID: LVA007ASVVXW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The trade dispute between the world's two largest economies has roiled global markets and unnerved investors as it stretches into its second year with no end in sight. Britain, meanwhile, appears to be on course to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 without a transition deal, which economists fear could severely disrupt trade flows.
Akinwumi Adesina, president of the AfDB, said the bank could review its economic growth projection for Africa - of 4% in 2019 and 4.1% in 2020 - if global external shocks accelerate.
"And therefore import demand of China has fallen significantly. The industrial capacity has fallen significantly and so the demand, even for products and raw materials from Africa will only fall even further. So the effect of that could have a ripple effect on African economies as the demand for their products weaken from China," Adesina told Reuters late on Saturday on the sidelines of the Southern African Development Community meeting in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
"It could have another effect in regards to China's own outward bound investments even on the continent, and so both in terms of official development assistance, also in terms of investment in Africa will also be obviously affected by that," he added.
The bank chief said African nations need to boost trade with each other and add value to agricultural produce to cushion the impact of external shocks.
Adesina said a continental free-trade zone launched last month, the African Continental Free Trade Area, could help speed up economic growth and development, but African nations needed to remove non-tariff barriers to boost trade.
"The challenge can not be solved unless all the barriers come down. Free mobility of labor, free mobility of capital, and free mobility of people, this is very important for the continent free-trade area." Adesina said.
(Emmanuel Herman, Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala, Okwi Okoh) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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